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Lake County, 



INDIANA, 



From 1834 to 1872 



BY 

REV. T. H. BALL, A. M. 

CROWN POINT, INDIANA. 



MDCCCLXXIL 



CHICAGO: -. 

J. W. GoODSrEED, Printer and Publisher, Lakeside Building. 
1873. 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1872, by 

T. H. BALL, 
In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 




AUTHORITIES. 



Thinking it desirable that the early and rapidly perishing his- 
tory of the settlement of Lake County should be preserved, and 
■ believing myself to possess some peculiar facilities and motives for 
such a work, and feeling sure that the time will come when there 
will be many to appreciate its value, I have, amid severe pressures 
and hindrances, endeavored, as faithfully as the circumstances would 
allow, to accomplish this object. The authorities are : 

1. The Claim Register. — This is a document of 1836, twelve 
inches by seventeen in size, containing eighty pages, which I acci- 
dentally found in Kankakee City. 

2. Robinson's Records. — This document is in the form of a 
lecture which was given in the Old Log Court House not long 
before its author left this vState to enter on life in New York. 

3. Diary of Judge Ball, of Cedar Lake. 

4. My Own Diary, commenced when thirteen years of age. 

5. Diary or Weather Record of Rev. H. Wason. 

6. Personal Recollections, from August, 1837. 

7. Conversations with Old Settlers and their Descend- 
ants. 

8. Public Records and Documents. 

To the many who have kindly aided me in furnishing items of 

information I here return my sincere thanks. 

Crown Point, Indiana, 1872. 

T. H. BALL. 



CORRECTIONS. 



A FEW typographical errors, from which a first edition is rarely 
altogether free, will be found on these pages. On page 68, ninth 
line, for the word opened read speared. In the last quotation, on page 
107, the words nvv/jw/ and ;'(fr(Wtvr(/ are transposed. On pages 155,, 
156, and .157, Liverpool is mentioned as having been on the Calumef.. 
This is of course a mistake. Please read Deep River. A few other 
errors the reader will easily correct. 

By an oversight of my own two burial places are omitted ; one in 
Hanover, connected with the German Evangelical Church ; the 
other at Crown Point belonging to the Chiuch of the Blessed Virgin 
Mary. Both are well kept. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

PAGES. 

Locality, Water Shed, Water Courses, Cedar Lake, Con- 
gressional Townships and Ranges, and Ridges, - 5-17 

CHAPTER II. 

Purchases from the Indians, Early Settleiiients, Squatters' 

Union, Land Sale, -..-.-. 18-66 

CHAPTER III. 
The Pottawatomies, ....... 67-84 

CHAPTER IV. 
Growth, 1840-1849, ..----. 85-95 

CHAPTER V. 

• New Growth, 1850-1859, Rail Roads, Swamp Lands, - 96-110 

CHAPTER VI. 

Our War Record, The Crown Point Institute, Teachers' 

Institutes, ....... 1 10-136 

CHAPTER VII. 
Burial Places, ........ 137-144 

CHAPTER VIII. 
Towns and Villages, - 145-165 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER IX. 



• Temperance Societies, Agricultural Society, Sabbath School 
Convention, College Graduates and Students, Literary 
Societies, Church Organizations, Physicians, Lawyers, 

Contrasts, 166-198 

I 

CHAPTER X. 

The Nail, Commissioners' Records, Center of Lake, Ten 
Mile Line, Indian Floats, Mounds, Views, Granges, 
Weather Record. Timber Stealers, Indian Incident, 
Long Lanes, North Township, First Things, Schools, 
Wolves, Wild Cat, White Owl, Bald Eagle, Swan, Peri- 
odicals, Records of Ministers, Kankakee Detectives, 
Wells and Springs, South East Grove, Orchard, Plum, 
Lost on the Prairie, Native Wild Animals, Specimen 
Poems, 199-275 

CHAPTER XI. 

Sketches of Early Settlers, 276-347 

CHAPTER XI I. 

Sun Dogs, Ice Cutting, K. V. D. Company, Cumberland 

Lodge, The Burglar, Concluding Reflections, - 348-364 



LAKE COUNTY, INDIANA, 

1834— 1872. 



CHAPTER I. 

LOCALITY, GEOGRAPHICAL AND PHYSICAL FEATURES. 
I. 

Lake County is situated in the northwest corner of 
the State of Indiana. It is bounded on the north by 
Lake Michigan, and on the south by the Kankakee 
River. On the east an air hne running north and south 
separates it from the county of Porter. On the west lies 
the State of Illinois. Its east and west sides are paraU 
lei, and its width is sixteen miles. Its northern limit, 
the beach line of one of the world's most magnificent 
lakes, is a quite regular curve. Its southern limit is a 
very irregular line, as marked out by the windings of one 
of the small but remarkable rivers of our country. The 
length of this region on the east side is about twenty- 
seven miles. On the west side it is thirty-six miles. Its 



6 LAKE COUNTY. 

area is, in round numbers, five hundred square miles. 
Although not large, yet one of the largest among the 
ninety-two counties of Indiana, it is twice as large as the 
ancient Attica, that division of Greece which was " in 
many respects one of the most interesting regions of the 
earth," and which once contained 300,000 inhabitants. 
It is twice as large as the celebrated island of Malta, 
which, " anciently little else than a baren rock " has 
been made, by the exportation of soil from Africa, so 
fertile as to support a population of 90,000. 

It has about the same area as that division of the Ger- 
man Empire called Saxe Altenburg, which contains more- 
than 140,000 inhabitants. It is larger than the Friendly 
Islands, which sustain a population of 25,000. 

If possessing no natural features to render it of more 
than ordinary interest, if not " beautiful for situation,"' 
as was one ancient spot of earth, it is nevertheless pecu- 
liarly situated. Its northwest corner is within twelve 
miles of the court house in Chicago, and, occupying 
that space south of the head of Lake Michigan, across 
its territory every railroad must pass which from the 
east or southeast enters that growing city, evidently des- 
tined to become the mighty metropolis of the north- 
west and one of the world's great cities. 

Five hundred square miles of surface lying where Lake 
county does cannot be unimportant. 

IT. 

Across its borders runs the water shed which separates^ 
the Mississippi Valley from the St. Lawrence Basin. 



WATER SHED. 7 

This line enters the county from the west in St. John's^ 
Township, in Section 36, a mile and a half north of the- 
line due west from Crown Point, passing north of the 
head waters of West Creek in this section ; it runs near 
the village of St. John's, and passes in a winding south- 
easterly direction across Hanover Township to a point 
half a mile north of the head of Cedar Lake. From 
thence it winds along the ridges of that strip of woodland' 
in Centre Township, its main direction eastward, passes 
south of Fancher's Lake, between that and the Mill 
Pond, comes out upon the prairie about one mile south 
of Crown Point and enters School Grove. It runs along a 
ridge in the grove south of the Sherman marsh, and passes 
in a southerly direction across the prairie to a point 
not far from Cassville. It then turns northward around 
the head of that arm of Deep River, and bearing a little 
toward the east passes on north between Deep River and 
Eagle Creek, south of Deer Creek, and still bearing 
eastward leaves Lake county on a line almost due east 
from Crown. Point, passing north of that little lake which 
is the source of Eagle Creek. The continuation of this 
water shed eastward is in a northerly direction, north of 
all tributaries of the Kankakee, and comes up to the por- 
tage between this and the St. Joseph River. The dis- 
tance between these two rivers at this point, across which 
portage La Salle and Hennepin carried their canoes in 
their famous exploring expedition of 1679, is only five or 
six miles. The western continuation of this water shed 
is yet more singular. From that Section 36, crossing the 
Illinois line it runs southwest, passing west of Eagle 
Lake and around the head waters of Thorn Creek, having 



S LAKE COUNTY. 

made of southing some seven miles. It then turns north- 
ward and runs up to the head waters of the Des Plaines 
Hiver, between that and the Chicago River, running 
■within some eight miles of the shore of Lake Michigan. 
This Des Plaines River, running past Joliet, meeting 
"with the Kankakee which has turned its course toward 
the northwest, as though in haste to meet its sister river, 
forms there, in conjunction with the Kankakee, the Illi- 
nois River. The head waters of Thorn Creek, which runs 
into Lake at Dyer, and the south head of Deep River near 
Cassville, are the two most southern points in the Lake 
Michigan Basin ; and on both the east side and the 
west, the Mississippi sends up its tributaries to obtain 
water with which to swell its mighty current very near to 
Michigan Lake. And from the center of Lake county, 
all along this winding line, drops of water start but a few 
feet apart, one of which will plunge down the cataract of 
Niagara and flowing through the St. Lawrence Gulf, will 
•enter the Atlantic Ocean in latitude 46 deg.; while the oth- 
er, flowing along the great, muddy. Father of Waters and 
the Gulf of Mexico, enters the same Atlantic in latitude 
.24 deg., in the warm region of the Tropic of Cancer. 
Perchance, after traveling thousauds of miles these 
drops will meet and mingle on the shores of Greenland 
or of Iceland. The height of the Lake county water 
shed above the ocean level has never been ascertained ? 
but how singular, that almost from within sound of Mich- 
igan's dashing waves water should flow down into the 
Gulf of Mexico. 



WATER COURSES. 9 

III. 

The principal streams of Lake county are, the Calumet, 
Deep River, and Turkey Creek, flowing into Lake Michi- 
gan ; and West Creek, Cedar Creek and Eagle Creek, flowing 
into the Kankakee. The main direction of the first three 
streams is eastward and westward. The main direction 
of the last three is southward. Turkey Creek is a sma!ll 
stream which, starting northwest of Centreville, passing 
near this village, running a liltle north of east, empties its 
waters into Deep River a little south and west of Hobart. 
Deep River has two small sources; the one near Brown's 
Point, northwest of Crown Point, which flows eastward, 
and the other commencing in the marshy ground some 
six miles southeast of Crown Point which flows northward. 
These two unite east of Crown Point, three and a half 
miles and north about two miles, and flow eastward, cut- 
ting the edge of Porter county. The river then flows 
northward returning into Lake county, and bears north- 
west to the mouth of Turkey -Creek, having made some 
three and a half miles westing. It then flows northeasterly 
to Hobart ; and passes from thence northward into the 
Calumet. The Calumet enters the county from Porter, 
two miles south of Lake Michigan, and flows westward 
bearing a little south along a marshy valley across the 
county. It continues on in the State of Illinois, running 
northwesterly till it reaches the Blue Island bluff, having 
made about seven and a half miles westing from the 
Indiana line. Meeting this bluff it turns back and flows 
but little south of east, in a line nearly parallel with its 
westward flow, until it has again almost crossed the 
county of Lake, and enters Lake Michigan two miles 



lO LAKE COUNTY. 

west and two north of its entrance from Porter into Lake. 
This was its original channel. I am told that the Indi- 
ans, some eighty years ago, opened, with the paddles of 
their canoes, a new channel for this singular river in the 
marshy ground between Calumet Lake in Illinois, and 
Wolf Lake in Indiana and Illinois, both near Lake Mich- 
igan, and thus turned a portion of its waters into this 
lake by a northern course of a few miles, beginning two 
miles west of the state line.* The Calumet has therefore 
now two mouths, some twenty miles apart, one in Indiana 
and one in Illinois. The eastward and westward flow of 
these northern streams is produced, evidently, by the pecu- 
liar ridges crossing the northern portion of the county from 
east to west. These are, north of the Calumet, ridges of 
sand, the first ones covered with pines and some cedar 
trees, also producing huckleberry bushes, wintergreens, 
and other plants natural to a very sandy soil. Further 
south a growth of oak comes in, the smaller plants re- 
maining the same. These ridges of pure sand are com- 
paratively narrow, their elevation being from ten to thirty 
or forty feet above the level of Lake Michigan. The 
water of this lake has an elevation of about six hundred 
feet above the Atlantic Ocean. Between the ridges are 
marshes, or narrow, sandy valleys, and north of the Cal- 
umet these ridges are numerous. They extend also be- 
tween the Calumet and Turkey Creek, and between this 
and Deep River, but there is little sand south of Turkey 
Creek on the eastern side of the county. The last ridge 
on the western side of the county commences just south 
of Dyer on the Illinois line, passing northward into Illi- 
nois in a low, broad ridge of sandy prairie soil, and east- 



WATER COURSES. II 

ward, containing some grand sand banks exactly, in 
appearance, like those now along the beach of Lake 
Michigan, until it gives way to a prairie ridge east of the 
■village of Schererville. The appearance near Dyer is as 
Shough the water of Lake Michigan, a number of years ago, 
washed this ridge and dashed its waves upon this sand, 
finding here its southwestern limit, then retiring north- 
■ward, ridge by ridge, reached its present bounds, leaving 
its old beach to show where once its free waves dashed 
their spray. The eastward continuation of this appar- 
ently lake beach is a broad prairie ridge between Turkey 
'Creek and Deep River. 

South of Deep River, and especially south of the water 
shed, the ridges and slopes of the woodland and the 
prairies cause the streams to flow northward or southward. 
West Creek, commencing at the water shed on that sec- 
tion 36, before named, about half a mile from the Illinois 
Sine, flows south, bearing a little east, and runs into the 
JRankakee, passing along a broad, marshy valley, forming, 
l)efore bridges were built, an almost impassable barrier 
BDiear the western border of the county. Its length, in a 
straight line, is nineteen miles. 

Cedar Creek is the outlet of Cedar Lake, and winds 
along a narrow valley, at first eastward and then running 
southward, reaching the Kankakee at a distance, on a 
^straight line, of about thirteen miles from its out-flow at 
Cedar Lake. 

Eagle Creek starts in Porter county, being the outlet 
of a little lake lying due east of the north part of Crown 
Point, but soon crossing the line, as it bears westward ; it 
reaches the Kankakee about 13 miles from that little lake. 



12 LAKE COUNTY. 

One of its main tributaries flows from a marsh at the 
south end of School Grove. 

Besides these six named, there are still smaller water 
courses, as Deer Creek, Duck Creek, Plum Creek, and 
Willow Creek. Springs will be hereafter mentioned. 

IV. 

The county is now divided into ten townships. These 
are, commencing at the north : North, which extends 
across the country from east to west, and is, therefore, 
sixteen miles long, and is two miles wide at its eastern 
limit and twelve on its western border ; St. John's, Ross, 
and Hobart ; Hanover, Center, and Winfleld ; West 
Creek ; Cedar Creek, and Eagle Creek. North and 
Center are so named from their geographical position. 
The three southern townships are named from their 
creeks. These creeks received their names, the first frorra 
its position, the second from the lake of which it is the 
outlet, and the third from an eagle's nest on a tree near 
its banks, found by the early settlers. This nest was; 
near the Gregg place, and was shown to Luman A. Fow- 
ler by Jacob Hurlburt in 1835. Ross was named after an 
early settler who was killed by the falling of a tree in 1836. 
St. John's was named from the Church of St. John the 
Evangelist ; and Hanover, from the German Hanover, 
its inhabitants being mostly German, and several coming 
from that kingdom. Hobart was named after Frederick 
Hobart Earle, of Falmouth, England, brother of George 
Earle, an early settler of Lake; ahd Winfield, in honor 
of Gen. Winfield Scott. 



CEDAR LAKE. IJ 

V. 

The principal lake in the county is Cedar Lake or 
Red Cedar Lake, five miles southwest of the geographi- 
cal center. Its eastern shore is in Center Township and 
its western in Hanover. It was named from the red ce- 
dar trees growing on its bank. Its length is two and a 
half miles. Its greatest breadth is one mile. It has no 
inlet ; is evidently fed by springs ; its waters are clear, 
pure, and soft ; and when first seen by the white settlers 
it abounded in fish, water-fowls, musk-rats, and minks. 
On its banks the Red Men reared their wigwams ; on its 
waters they paddled their light canoes ; and on its north- 
ern bank, in the pure sand, close by a high bluff, they 
buried their dead. As a sheet of water, comparing as it 
does well in size with some of the noted ones of Eng- 
land, it is called, by some good judges, very beautifuL 
Other small lakes are : Fancher's, Lake Seven, Lemors, 
Lake, Sheehan's Lake, and Wolf Lake. Lake George 
is found on some maps, but, like the mountains of North- 
ern Indiana, in Cummings' Atlas of 1815, it is more 
imaginary than real. 

VI. 

The surface and the soil in this region are quite varied. 
Darby's Universal Gazetteer, of 1827, says, article Indi- 
ana : " The country round the extreme S. bay of Lake 
Michigan has the appearance of the sea marshes of 
Louisiana. Low flooded prairies intersected by lakes and 
interlocking creeks. No eminences are seen, one un- 
broken horizon encircles the eye." There is some low, 
level, marshy land. There is low and level prairie. 



14 LAKE COUNTY. 

There is rolling prairie with long ridges of woodland. 
There is rolling prairie with long and graceful slopes and 
l)road valleys, and some prairie with deep and short val- 
leys equal almost to the rolling prairie of Iowa. There 
are long and broad ridges and table lands, and hills and 
«dales, and heavy woodland. There are beds of white 
sand as clean and pure as sand can well be. There are 
miles of yellowish sand where corn and potatoes will 
grow quite successfully. There is a whitish clay soil, 
jDroducing oats, grass, and winter wheat, and rye. There 
is the rich black soil of the prairie, and the still deeper 
and richer soil of the high and dry marsh. The large 
Cady Marsh, the Calumet and Kankakee marshes, and 
other smaller ones, contain many thousands of acres of 
land that must one day become very valuable. Some of 
it, once called waste land and "swamp land," already 
produces large crops of grass and oats. 

VII. 

Over Lake county and above the line of the Water 
Shed, the warm vapor from the southern valleys and the 
slopes, or from the rivers and waters of the South meets 
with the cooler vapor of Lake Michigan, giving to this re- 
gion, in ordinary seasons, an abundance of moisture, and 
causing the atmosphere to be very seldom perfectly 
cloudless. As, however, late in the season the water of 
jLake Michigan becomes quite warm, and continues 
during those golden days of October and sometimes 
through November which we call Indian Summer, the 
north wind bringing that vapor and warm air over the 
ridge and down our southern slope to the Kankakee 



RANGES AND RIDGES. 15 

Iceeps off the early autumnal frosts, and this county is 
.•sometimes protected for weeks after the frost appears 
further west and further south. If the springs, there- 
fore, are wet and backward occasionally, the autumns are, 
quite usually, warm, late, and delightful. 

VIII. 

This region contains, as laid out by the United States 
surveyor, two entire ranges, Eight and Nine, three rows 
■of sections in Range Seven on the east, and one row of 
sections in Range Ten on the west. The congressional 
townships are from Thirty-two to Thirty-seven in each 
range, some of which, on the north and south, are not 
full. Ten congressional townships are almost entire. 
The prairie region covers, probably, about two-thirds of 
the county. The first prairie, beginning at the northeast 
of the prairie portion, is just south of the town of Ho- 
bart, is level, rather low, and was formerly wet. It is 
now sufificiently dry for successful cultivation. It is 
small, not more than two miles in extent. The second, 
lying west of Deep River, which is here running north- 
ward, is much larger, quite level, and was formerly wet. 
As it spreads southward and westward it grows higher 
and slopes upward along a ridge, that broad prairie 
ridge south of Turkey Creek. This ridge, and for several 
miles, is high but not rolling prairie. Southward slopes the 
broad expanse, spreading also out for miles to the west- 
ward, of what was called, in early times, Robinson's Prai- 
rie. Its landmarks were the Hodgeman place, Wiggins, 
-Point, Brown's Point, and Solon Robinson's, afterwards 
X,ake C. H. — that is Court House, — and finally, Crown 



l6 LAKE COUNTY. 

Point. This large extent of prairie contained some that 
was low and wet, some high ridges, but very little that 
could be called rolling. South of the center of the coun- 
ty the prairie spreads out over nearly the whole widths 
and having passed the water shed becomes, in the south, 
central part, truly rolling. It is not, to much extent, 
broken and hilly, but contains magnificent slopes, one 
succeeding another, gradually descending toward the 
Kankakee meadow lands, and between these slopes are 
broad but not deep valleys where armies of ten thousand 
men in each might form in line of battle. The landmarks. 
here are, School Grove, South East Grove, Plum Grove,. 
Orchard Grove, Hickory point, and Pleasant Grove. 
Between South East Grove and Hickory Point, and ex- 
tending southward there is some low and level prairie. 
West of Pleasant Grove and of Cedar Lake, and extend- 
ing south to the Belshaw Grove and west to the West 
Creek limber, lies the gem of the prairie region of Indi- 
ana, known as Lake Prairie. Robinson's Prairie has 
more size. Door Prairie more celebrity; but Lake Prairie 
possesses, according to my taste, more perfect beauty. 
Door Prairie is rich and beautiful. It has been called 
the Garden of the West. It lies on the route of travel. 
Lake Prairie is seldom seen by travelers' or tourists* 
eyes. South of the prairie proper, extending across the 
county, lies a belt of marsh or meadow land five or six 
miles in breadth, interspersed with islands of timber, and 
bordering the channel of the Kankakee River. Apart is. 
dry, a part is wet marsh. This marsh region makes that 
river remarkable. A river is known to be there. The 
blue line of trees marking its course can be discerned from 



KANKAKEE. 17, 

the prairie heights ; but only occasionally, in mid winter 
or in a time of great drouth, can one come near its water 
channel. So far as any ordinary access to it from this 
•county is concerned it is like a fabulous river, or one the 
existence of which we take on trust. The fowlers, the 
trappers, and the woodmen have looked upon its slug- 
gish waters. 



LAKE COUNTY. 



CHAPTER 11. 

1834 1839. SQUATTER LIFE. 

I. 

In the year 1800 Indiana became an organized territory. 
Before that time it had formed a part of the almost un- 
known and trackless wilds of the North-West, slightly- 
explored by some adventurous Frenchmen and penetrated 
for the purpose of traffic by fur traders. As early as 
1679 and 1680 there is evidence that French explorers 
passed along the border, and perhaps across the very 
center of what is now Lake county. The first settlement 
in Indiana was made by the French in 1690, at Vin- 
cennes. In 1816 Indiana was admitted into the Union 
as a State. But the northern part was a wilderness. As 
late as 1820 it contained only fifty counties, and of these 
Wabash had 147 inhabitants, Owen 838, and Martin. 
1032. There was then no La Porte or St. Joseph ; there 
was no Marshall, or Pulaski, or Steuben ; no northern 
Indiana. Although for four years a State, and contain- 
ing 147,178 inhabitants, this Lake Michigan region was 
still the home of the Red Men and the fur traders. 

Chicago became Fort Dearborn in 1804, and was a 
trading post for corn raised by the Pottawatomies in their 
corn villages on the Des Plaines and in the Fox River 



SQUATTER LIFE. 19- 

Valley, of which their adopted chief, Alexander Robin- 
son, or Chee-chee-bing-way, shipped, in 1809, about loo-- 
bushels ; and also for fur, which the Calumet and Kanka- 
kee region furnished abundantly. In 181 2 took place the 
Fort Dearborn Massacre. In i8i6the fort was restored- 
The fur trade was then vigorously carried on, and con- 
nection, of course, kept up between Fort Dearborn and 
Detroit. 

By the treaty of the United States with the Pottawato- 
mies in 1828, a strip of land ten miles in width was ac- 
quired along the northern border of Indiana, which ex- 
tends in a narrow strip to the extreme southern limit of 
Lake Michigan. This was the first land purchased from 
the Indians in what is now Lake county. By the treaty 
of 1832 the remainder of this county was acquired and 
all which the Pottawatomies owned in the State. 

Up to this time there were no whites in all this region 
except fur traders, perchance some hunters and trappers^ 
and the soldiers at Fort Dearborn. In this year took 
place the Black Hawk War, and a few white settlers came 
into what is now La Porte county. A route for travel 
was immediately opened along the beach of Lake Michi- 
gan. Three men. Hart, Steel, and Sprague, started a 
stage line from Detroit to Fort Dearborn, or Chicago,, 
probably in 1833, and four-horse coaches were placed upon, 
tHe road. And now the stillness of nature and the repose 
of wild life was broken. White covered wagons came, 
with white men, and women, and children, white as to 
race but brown from exposure, — " boys in their sunny- 
brown beauty and men in their rugged bronze," — to start 
new echoes in the wilderness, to lay claim to the beauti- 



20 LAKE COUNTY. 

ful prairies, and plant all over, where savages had reared 
their wigwams and buried their dead, the seeds of a Chris- 
tian civilization. In this same year of 1833 a man named 
Bennett settled with his family on this stage route, in the 
limits of our county, near the old mouth of the Calumet, 
then called Calumic, and opened a house of entertain- 
ment, a new country tavern. The Old Soc Trail, began 
also to be traveled about this same year, leading from 
La Porte to the Hickory Creek Settlement in Illinois, and 
past Cedar Lake to the Rapids of the Kankakee. It was 
but a trail, requiring a pioneer's eye, or an Indian's sa- 
gacity, to enable one to follow it safely. A family by the 
name of Farwell, afterwards becoming settlers on West 
Creek, a well-known family among us, then from the 
Green Mountain State, were endeavoring to follow this 
trail to Hickory, missed the way, and spent the 4th of 
July 1833, where Crown Point now stands, amid an un- 
broken solitude, while a messenger returned eastward for 
a guide. Mrs. Farwell, therefore, a decidedly superior 
woman, was the first white woman, so far as is known, 
ever on this spot of ground, where on festive occasions 
the crowds now gather. Indian with his pony could 
not now follow that Soc Trail; but a multitude of movers' 
teams annually pass along near its track, on the Joliet 
Road. 

In the spring of 1834 another tavern was opened on 
the beach of Lake Michigan by a man named Berry. 
The accommodation at these log cabin taverns was suf- 
ficiently scanty to show the borders of civilization, some- 
times as many as fifty sleeping at night in and around the 
mudded walls, and the food was flour and coffee, without 



SyUATTER LIFE. 21 

meat, butter, milk, or sugar, and the price of grain and 
provisions sufficiently high to satisfy an- ordinary land- 
lord, oats for horse feed costing three dollars a bushel at 
one of these stage houses. 

During the summer of 1834 United States surveyors 
laid out most of the land in Lake county into sections, 
the range or township lines having been previously run. 
This party of surveyors camped, for a week in June or 
July, in that part of the grove novr owned by Dr. Petti- 
bonea, in the town of C'rown Point. One who accom- 
panied this party, J. Hurlburt, an old settler of Porter, 
remembers no cabin and no settler at that time in any of 
our central groves. As yet the squatters were not here. 
He remembers some cabins along the stage road on the 
lake beach and thinks that Goodrich, in the place of 
Bennett, then kept the tavern at the mouth of the Calu- 
met. Burnside had this job of surveying from the Gov- 
ernment, but the work here was done bj' St. Clair. 

After the surveyors came the claim seekers. There is 
evidence that either before or soon after that week of en- 
< ampment just mentioned, one Wm. Butler was on this 
ground before Solon Robinson came, and made four 
claims, for himself, for his brother E. P. Butler, for 
George Wells, and for Theodore Wells. He also erected 
cabins and departed. I find the existence of three cab- 
ins recognized by those who are called Lake county's 
earliest settlers. I think the}' were the Butler cabins. I 
now reach more certain data. 

In September 1834, Richard Fancher, Charles Wilson, 

Robert Wilkinson and two nephews, left Attica on the 

Wabash, three in a wagon and two mounted on good 

s 



22 LAKE COUNTY. 

horses, to look for claims in the newly surveyed north- 
west corner of the State. They crossed the Kankakee 
at the head of the rapids, crossed West Creek at a place 
which was selected at once by Wilkinson for a home, and 
came up to Cedar Lake. They camped at its head near 
the old inlet. They found on that sand ridge an Indian 
burial ground. They kept their headquarters at the 
lake. R. P'ancher and Charles Wilson, being well 
mounted, traveled considerably over the county. 
They were at the South East Grove and at all the central 
parts. The surveyors had just been over the region. 
They found no settlers. They saw no Indians, but 
found signs of late Indian occupancy. R. Fancher se- 
lected a part of section 17, and his claim gave the name 
to that little lake. Wilson and the other two made 
claims near Cedar Lake. Charles Wilson selected that 
quarter section afterwards bought by Jacob L. Brown 
and then by Hervey Ball. 'I'hey saw a black bear in the 
woods west of Cedar Lake. They stayed about three 
weeks, broke up their encampment, returned to the 
Wabash and waited for the spring. 

The October sunshine came, "the large fields of maize 
at Indian Town had ripened, when a family from Jen- 
nings county, Indians, crossing the Kankakee south of 
La Porte, finding J. Hurlburt for a guide to show 
them that central grove where the surveying party had 
camped for a week, entered, as settlers seeking a home, 
on the borders of Lake. They passed Porter sand ridges, 
and the timber that skirted Deep River, they came out 
®n a broad expanse of prairie and looked admiringly 
round. He who was to give that prairie name, who was 



SQUATTER LIFE. 23 

to map out the county, count its sections, keep its first 
records, now stood upon its soil, — Solon Robinson, — who 
was afterwards called "The Squatter-King of Lake." 
I will let him speak for himself here. I quote from " The 
Cultivator," published at Albany, New York, Vol. viii, 
page 19 : " It was the last day of October, 1834, when I 
first entered this ' arm of the Grand Prairie.' It was 
about noon, of a clear, delightful day, when we emerged 
from'the wood, and, for miles around, stretched forth one 
broad expanse of clear, open land. At that time the 
whole of this county scarcely showed a sign that the 
white man had yet been here, except those of my own 
household. I stood alone, wrapt up in that peculiar sen- 
sation that man only feels when beholding a prairie for the 
first time — it is an indescribable, delightful feeling. Oh, 
what a rich mine of wealth lay outstretched before me. 
Some ten miles away to the southwest, the tops of a grove 
were visible. Toward that onward rolled the wagons, 
with nothing to impede them. "^^ * * * Just before 
sundown we reached the grove and pitched our tent by 
the side of a spring. What could exceed the beauty of 
this spot! Why should we seek farther .'' Here is every- 
thing to indicate a healthy location which should always 
influence the new settler. * * * * After enjoying 
such a night of rest as can only be enjoyed after such a 
day, the morning helped to confirm us that here should 
be our resting place. In a few hours the grove resound- 
ed with the blows of the axe, and in four days we moved 
into our 'new house.' " 

In that same October two, perhaps three, from the 
Wabash region, also coming by way of La Porte, passed 



24 t.AKK <:OUNTV. 

on horseback to the northwest bank of Cedar Lake. 
There were Dr. Brown, David Hornor, and probably, also. 
Thomas Hornor. 

On the first daj^ of November, Henry Wells and Lu- 
man A. Fowler, having left their horses on Twenty 
Mile Prairie, came to Solon Robinson's tent. They, too. 
passed on to Cedar Lake and found the three just 
mentioned there. Hungry and tired, they partook of 
some roasted raccoon meat for supper, lodged " in a 
leafy tree top," and returned the next day to the Robin- 
son camp. The little party from the Wabash made 
several claims, on the west side of the lake, and then re- 
turned to their homes, to be ready for removing in the 
f'oming spring. 

There is in my possession the original Claim Register, 
containing not onh' a record of the claims, when made, 
by whom, where the settlers were from, with date of set- 
tlement, but also the General Record and Constitution 
of the Squatters' Union of Lake County. This docu- 
ment I have had occasion (]uite thorciughly to examine. 

.\ccording to the Register, claims were made in the 
year 1834 by the following persons: 

E. L. Palmer, in April, for himself and for J. B. Cox, 
I-. Cox, and E. Cox; (The timber connected with these 
was not claimed till December 8, 1836, and they are all 
afterwards marked " forfeit." They lie in the western 
tier of sections in Range 10. I conclude that none of 
these settled in 1534, and in April the sections were not 
laid off by the U. S. surveyors.) Wm. S. Thornburg, 
Thomas Thornburg, Wm. Crooks, and Sam'l Miller, in 
June; Robert Wilkinson, Noah A. Wilkinson, Noah B. 



SQUATTET^ LIFE. 2=; 

'Clark, R. Fancher, Thomas Childers, Thomas Hornor, 
Solon Robinson, and Milo Robinson in October ; T. S. 
Wilkison, Robert Wilkison, B. Wilkison, Thomas Brown, 
Jacob L. Brown, Thomas H. Brown, Wm. Clark, J. W. 
Holton, H. Wells, David Hornor, L. A. Fowler, J- B. 
Curtis, Elyas My rick, Wm. My rick, Thomas Reed, in 
November; and W. A. W. Holton, Harriet Holton, 
widow, Jesse Pierce, David Pierce, John Russell, and 
Wm. Montgomery, in December. 

I find none of these settling in 1834 except Childers. 
S. Robinson, Crooks and Miller, L. A. Fowler, Robert 
Wilkison, and Jesse and David Pierce. The fact of the 
settlement, in this year, of Crooks, Miller, and the two 
Pierces, rests only on the somewhat uncertain data given 
in the Register — uncertain, because intentions were 
there recorded as facts, and men then as now could not 
iilways accomplish their intentions. The date of the 
•claim in the Register is certain ; of time of settlement, 
slightly uncertain. 

T have inserted two names as claimants of land in 1834 
which I do not fmd thus registered. R. Fancher and 
"I'homas Childers; but both these were on section 17, 
upon which was laid an ^^ Indian float." The following 
is, according to Solon Robinson's Records, the order of 
settling of the first few families in Lake. 

In October, 1834, Thomas Childers and family settled 
on the South-east Quarter of Section 17, in the edge 
of School Grove. His name and that of his wife must 
therefore stand on this record as the first known settlers 
in the central part of the county. On the last day of 
f)ctober Solon Robinson and family settled in that point 



26 I-AKE COUNTY. 

of the timber which now forms such a well known part 
of the town of Crown Point. 

To Solon Robinson must be awarded the honor of 
being first in Crown Point, and second only, as a resident, 
in the central part of the county. It is said, on good au- 
thority, that he once gave great offense to Thomas Chil- 
ders by remarking that his wife, Mrs. Robinson, was the 
first white woman settling in Lake county. The word 
white was understood to-be in contrast, not with red^ de- 
noting Indian women, but with dark or stvarthy, thus cast- 
ing a reflection on the complexion of Mrs. Childers. 

The third family arriving was that of Robert Wilkin- 
son, who settled on Deep River, where the only ford 
known in early times was situated. 

This family settled late in November. In January, 
1835, Lyman Wells, and with him an unmarried man, 
John Driscoll, settled a little south-east of what is now 
the town of Lowell. Lyman Wells had a wife and four 
or five children. 

About the middle of February, coming from Jennings 
county, Indiana, William Clark and family, and with them 
VV. A. W. Holton, and mother, and sister, reached the 
hospitable home of Solon Robinson, making the fifth and 
sixth families, and increasing to eight the number of men 
as settlers. I count here eight, as a young man was that 
winter domiciled with the Robinson family whose name 
was afterwards well known to the inhabitants of Lake. 
This was Luman A. Fowler. A few days afterwards 
the seventh family arrived, the fourth for the Robinson 
settlement, J. W. Holton with his wife and child. In the 
spring Richard Fancher with his family reached his claim 



SQUATTER LIFE. 27 

on the bank of what has since been called Fancher's Lake. 
Ceasing now to name the families in their order, I insert 
some of the incidents connected with the winter trip of 
the Clark family. 

The route by way of the rapids, of Sugar, and Bun- 
kum, and Parrish Grove, to the Wabash, was dreary 
enough and desolate in the early fall of 1848, when 1 
first tried that road to Indianapolis ; but what must it 
have been in mid-winter in 1835 ! That' February was a 
winter month unusually severe. The wagons drawn by 
ox teams, which most of the settlers then used instead of 
horses, had slowly wended their way, bearing one family 
with several children, the father and mother then in the 
full prime of life, the other family a widowed mother 
with a son who had entered manhood and a daughter 
also grown up, and having crossed the bleak open yjrairie 
north of Sugar they came to the Kankakee marsh. 
This was " covered with ice upon which night overtook 
them endeavoring to force their ox teams across. There 
was no house, and they were unprepared for camping out, 
and one of the most severe cold nights about closing in 
upon them surrounded by a wide field of ice upon which 
the already frightened and tired oxen refused to go fur- 
ther, and not a tree or stick of firewood near them. 
These families upon this night might have perished had 
they not providentially discovered a set of logs that 
some one had hauled out upon a little knoll near by to 
build a cabin with, and with which they were enabled to 
build a fire, to warm a tent made out of the covering of 
their wagons, and which enabled them to shelter them- 
selves from the blast that swept over the wide prairie 



28 LAKE COUNT\ . 

almost as unimpeded as over the mountain waves of the- 
ocean. The next day, by diverging ten miles out of. 
their course, they reached a little miserable hut of an old 
Frenchman, who lived with his half Indian family on the 
Kankakee; here they stayed two days and nights. Such 
was the severity of the weather that they dared not leave 
their uncomfortable quarters, and when they did so 
they had to make a road for the oxen across the river by 
spreading hay upon the ice and freezing it down by 
pouring on water." The name of this French trader 
who so kindly gave them shelter was pronounced Sho- 
bar. He lived where now is Kankakee City, forty miles 
from their destination. They found at Yellow Head one 
family. Stayed there over night. Came to West Creek, 
following a blind Indian trail. The oxen broke through 
the ice of this stream, and were extricated with difficulty. 
At length the wagons Wv:;re brought over, and the trail 
leading across Lake Prairie was followed up. On differ- 
ent trails Solon Robinson had erected guide-boards, and 
these voyagers just before dark found one which they 
gladly hailed : "To .Solon Robinson's, 5 miles Xorth." 
Soon after night-fall they reached his lone bui .^spitable 
cabin. There are those yet among us, Thomas Clark 
and Alexander Clark, who remember well the severities 
of that winter trip. The pioneers in every part of this 
country, whether they came amid the snows and ice of 
winter or the flowers of summer, or, as the family of 
which I was a member came, amid the deep mud, and 
crossing the bridgeless streams of December, knew the 
meaning of privations and of hardships. But all seem to 
have borne them with great cheerfulness. The hardy 



SQUATTER LIFE. 29 

came, the intelligent came, men and women mostly 
young or in the prime of life, and happy, light hearted 
children. Years afterwards the Pierian Society at 
Crown Point, some of them descendants of these early 
pioneers, adopted for their motto, Per aspera ad astra; 
that is. Through difficulties to success. Then were some 
difficulties^ in the squatter period of our history ; and noiv, 
as our respected citizen, A. Clark, looks at the young, 
growing city two miles from his home, hears the whistle 
of the cars, looks over his well cultivated farm, and at 
his spring in the meadow that will furnish water daily for 
a thousand cattle, enjoys the facilities that have come 
into being since those days of his boyhood, he enjoys 
with others the success. 

I return to the winter of 1834. Four families were on 
sections 8 and 5, at its close, one was in School Grove, 
one near Lowell, one probably on Deep River, one on 
Turkey Creek, and three or four, it is probable, were 
scattered among the sand ridges of North Township. 
Gladly would I record all their names on this page of 
history could I only rescue them from the oblivion which 
has already come. Some incidents of the first winter are 
pressing forward for a record. 

The oxen lived on browse and a little corn, and that 
was more than the deer had. But the oxen grew hungry 
and became lean. Food for the children became scarce. 
Corn bins and mills were forty miles away. Provisions 
gave out in L. Wells' family and they made a supper of 
a big owl, and were on the point of roasting a wolf when 
a different supply arrived. At a later period this same 
Wells, returning from a mill in La Porte county, " com- 



50 LAKE COUNTY, 

ing from Wilkinson's crossing of Deep River after dark, 
missed his course, for there was no path, and got on to 
Deep River somewhere about south of the Hodgman 
place, broke through the ice, and with great difficulty 
succeeded in getting his horses loose ; and in undertak- 
ing to get back to a house on Twenty Mile Prairie, riding 
one horse and leading the other, he came unexpectedly 
to a steep bank of the river in the dark and pitched head- 
long down a dozen feet into the water and floating ice. 
He clung to one horse and succeeded in reaching the 
other shore and getting near enough to the house to 
make himself heard by the loud cries he gave as the only 
means of saving his life. About noon next day he found 
his other horse on a little island near where they made 
the fearful plunge, but it was near night when he found 
his wagon." 

Solon Robinson's account of " the first trip to mill " 
from his cabin, published in the Cultivator in 1841, Vol. 
VIII, page 67, was one of those sketches which gave to 
him his earlier celebrity as a writer. 

It is too lengthy to be reproduced here. I give, how- 
ever, a few sentences. December had arrived. It was 
found that the supply of food would last five or six days 
only, when " a trusty and persevering messenger was dis- 
patched " to obtain a new supply. " Never were such 
appetites seen before as those which daily diminished the 
fast failing stock of provisions of our little family in the 
wilderness." The meal was exhausted, " the knife had 
scraped the last bone for breakfast," on the sixth day 
after the messenger's departure. A small bag of wheat 
bran was found. No lard, no butter, no meat, no milk. 



SQUATTER LIFE, 3I 

"Bran cakes and cranberries sweetened with honey 
then were sweet diet. Although the owner of a gun 
that rarely failed to perform good service, it seemed that 
every living thing in the shape of game had hid up in 
winter quarters." "On the sixth, seventh, eighth and 
ninth days, anxious and watchful eyes scanned the prai- 
rie by day, and tended beacon fires by night, for this pre- 
caution was necessary, as there was nothing to guide the 
expected teamster home, should he undertake the peril- 
ous passage of the prairie just at night fall. It was about 
midnight of the last day, and I had tired of watching 
and had laid down, but not to sleep." A sound was 
heard as of steps on the frozen ground. Soon a voice 
was heard. " What joyful sounds ! But the joy was 
soon damped, as it became manifest that he drove a 
team without a wagon. Where is that.'' was the first 
question. ' Fast in the river a few miles back on the 
prairie.' ' Do you know we have nothing in the house 
for your supper ?' ' I expected so, and so I brought 
along a bag-full; here is both flour and meat.'" Then 
the hickory logs began to blaze, and soon there was a 
supper. ' Such scenes of excitement, of pain and pleas- 
ure, often occur to the western emigrant." "And it is 
because the emigrant's life is full of such exciting scenes, 
and because the days of pleasure are long remembered, 
when those of pain are buried in oblivion, that induces 
thousands annually to add themselves to that irresistible 
wave of emigration that is rolling onward to the Pacific 
ocean." Many other families had their mill trips in the 
few next succeeding years, some of which may find their 
place in this record. If some were hungry, none starved, 



32 LAKE COUNTY. 

and no one died during the first winter spent by squat- 
ters in Lake. 

In the spring of 1835 settlers began to come in more 
rapidly. In March, Richard Fancher again entered the 
county, with two assistants, and erected a cabin on his 
claim. He brought up a load of provisions and goods, 
drawn by two yoke of oxen, deposited them at Solon 
Robinson's, and returned for his family. He arrived 
with them and settled in April. In the same month 
Wayne Bryant, Simeon and Samuel D. Bryant, a brother- 
in-law named Agnew, and David Bryant, commenced 
what was known for years as " the Bryant Settlement." 
Elias Bryant also joining them in the Fall. To E. W. 
generally called Wayne Bryant, is attributed the naming 
of the grove where they settled. His wagon reached a 
grove in the afternoon. They camped there for the night. 
In the morning the bright spring sunshine of April shone 
over the broad prairie lying eastward, and gilded the 
trees westward, then putting on their green foliage. The 
little birds, which had been accustomed to sing only for 
the Indian children and the deer, were no doubt flitting 
amid the green boughs, and as the white family looked 
around that morning and listened, they said, " How 
pleasant. We will stop here." And they gave it the 
name which it has ever since borne, of " Pleasant Grove." 
But a trial came upon them in that early springtime. On 
the fourth of April there came "a most terrible snow 
storm, the weather previous having been mild as sum- 
mer," and the brother-in-law, Agnew, overtaken by night 
on the prairie east of Pleasant Grove, perished with the 
cold. This was the first death among the settlers ; no 



SQUATTER LIFE. 33 

places had been selected for burial ; and these remains 
were deposited in a cemetery on Morgan Prairie, in 
Porter county. 

The Agnew family, nevertheless, took possession of the 
claim and the settlement went on. 

In May the Myricks came, Elias and William, and 
Thomas Reed, and commenced the " Myrick Settle- 
ment." Robert Wilkinson took possession of his claim on 
West Creek; and in the month of May S. P. String- 
ham and J. Foley settled on Centre Prairie. 

Cedar Lake was not forgotten. A party of seven, Dr. 
Thomas Brown, Jacob L. Brown, David Hornor and four 
sons, Thomas, George, Amos, and Levi, came from the 
Wabash region, in the month of September, and camped 
near the bank on the west side of Cedar Lake. They 
took up more claims, erected cabins, put up hay, staid 
about two weeks. During this stay they found a bee 
tree in the grove a little north of their camp, which tree 
they cut down. They filled a three gallon jar with 
strained honey, they filled a wash tub full, and made an 
ash trough and filled that, all from the contents af this 
tree, which was estimated to yield at least five hundred 
pounds of good honey. The honey-bee is known to 
precede the white man. The early settlers cut a good 
many bee trees ; Solon Robinson speaks of " a dozen 
honey trees to be cut and taken care of " during his first 
winter ; but few probably yield as much honey as this 
one on the Brown claim. 

This party was fortunate in securing food. Passing 
out of the county, returning home, they saw on the Illi- 
nois prairie seven wild turkeys. They unharnessed the 



34 LAKE COUNTY. 

four horses from their wagon, and four of them mount- 
ing, gave chase, taking care to keep the turkeys from en- 
tering the wood. They captured five out of the seven 
without firing a shot. They paid two for their meal at the 
next stopping place. Lacy, the landlord here, was the 
only settler on the route between Parrish Grove and But- 
terfield's. His hotel was about twelve feet square. On 
a rainy night the floor and the very hearth-stone would 
be covered all over with men seeking repose. 

In October, this party returned with their families, and 
the Hornor settlement was now made. On the west bank 
of Cedar Lake was Jacob L. Brown, and next north of 
him was Aaron Cox. In the edge of the grove west was 
Thomas Hornor, and in the West Creek woods the cabin 
was situated containing the large family of David Hor- 
nor. About half way between the cabin of Thomas 
Hornor and that of Robert Wilkinson, Jesse Bond settled 
during this summer, and south of him, Thomas Wiles. 
There also came in this year Robert Hamilton ; John 
Wood, from Massachusetts, came and made a claim ; 
Milo Robinson from New York city joined his brother 
Solon in November ; and in December, Henry Wells, of 
Massachusetts, became a resident of Lake. 

I cannot find sufficient data for tracing out all the 
settlers of the summer of 1835 ; yet, the claim register 
being authority, they were not very numerous ; although 
Robinson's record says, "In the fall of 1835 we had 
grown into so much importance that the tax pollector 
from La Porte came up to pay us a visit, which was about 
as welcome as such visits generally are." 

I return to the Robinson settlement, the spring of 1835. 



SQUATTER LIFE. 35 

Four families, it will be remembered, from Jennings 
county, were settled near together. 

The prairie sod was not favorable for an early garden, 
but an old Indian corn field furnished a garden spot 
which the four families divided out and cultivated, and 
on which they raised their first vegetables. A breaking 
plow was started May 12th, and the first furrow turned 
was across the quarter section where now Main street 
runs, beginning at the present line of North street and 
ending on South street, or at the Eddy place. Twelve 
acres of oats were raised, and some corn and buckwheat. 
Some of this buckwheat sent to mill by the Clark family, 
was probably the first grist sent from Lake county. The 
mill was forty miles distant. The first speculation made 
was in oats. Wm. Clark and Wm. Holton had bought 
oats in the spring of '35, in La Porte county, intending 
them for seed, for fifty cents a bushel. Thinking it too 
late to sow when they reached their claims, they hauled 
the oats back and sold them for one dollar and fifty cents 
a bushel. The price had gone immediately.up. Oats, 
corn, and wheat, then, all sold for the same price. 

Warner Holton dug a well. He dug four feet and 
found water which supplied two families. This well was 
near the present railroad depot. As the water receded 
the well was made deeper until in after years it reached 
the depth of twelve feet. 

Not forgetful of their national history in their isola- 
tion, this little colony celebrated the Fourth of July, 1835, 
by going to Cedar Lake and taking a boat ride on its 
crystal waters. In the fall these settlers saw their first 
prairie fire, and some of them were quite alarmed at its 



$6 LAKE COUNTY. 

threatening aspect. A true prairie fire is a magnificent 
and sometimes an alarming sight. Many a time were the 
first settlers called out to fight for hours by day and by 
night against this raging element, endeavoring, some- 
times vainly, to protect their fences, to protect their hay 
stacks, and even obliged to protect their log cabins. 
There was then little to obstruct and, with a favorable 
wind, the fire would sweep along the surface, consuming 
the tall dry grass, with fearful rapidity. The great hope 
of protection lay in setting back fires and controlling 
them before they gained much headway. 

The winter of 1835-36 was one of some hardships and 
privations. As an illustration I go to a family west of 
Cedar Lake. Six hundred Pottawatomie Indians are 
camped within half a mile of their little home. The 
Indians bring venison to exchange for salt pork. They 
give a large amount of venison sometimes for a few 
pound:- of pork. Venison is plenty ; pork is scarce. 
The winter is nearly gone, the Indians leave their camp- 
ing ground, the pork is low in the barrel, and two teams 
start for the Wabash — the great place of supply — to ob- 
tain more provisions. The winter breaks up. The 
water rises, as the spring flood comes. The streams are 
bridgeless. Return is impossible. Weeks pass, and eat- 
ables are very scarce. One-half bushel of buckwheat, 
brought up for seed, is in the house. This is ground in 
a coffee mill, and made into cakes. The mother eats 
very little. A son says to her, " Mother, we shall not 
starve. We can kill a cow if it becomes absolutely ne- 
cessary." Spring has come. Two of the sons go out 
with the oxen to break some prairie. Presently Levi 



SQUATTER LIFE. 37 

says to his brother, " I am so faint and weak, I can go no 
further." It seems like the time for giving up. They 
look off on the prairie far to the south, and lo ! the white 
covered wagons are coming. Two settlers some miles 
northward, Bea and Chase, who had seen them too, and 
were living on venison, hastened down and obtained a 
half bushel of corn meal before the wagons were unloaded. 
This was, for that family, a happy day. About two months 
had passed since the wagons left home to get more food, 
and no tidings from them came. The joy of that return, 
and of again partaking of abundant food, one yet living 
remembers well, Amos Hornor of Ross, the only one left 
of all the earliest settlers west of Cedar Lake. 

Other families had their privations; and other families 
experienced the great joy of a father returning and bring- 
ing plenty. 

At the session of the Legislature of Indiana of 1835-36, 
the territory north of the Kankakee and east of La Porte 
county was divided into Porter and Lake. Porter was 
organized and Lake attached to it. Both had been pre- 
viously attached to La Porte for judicial purposes. 

In the spring of 1836 the commissioners appointed to 
make this division divided the territory of Lake into 
three townships, North, Centre, and South, and ordered 
an election for justice of the peace in each township. 
This was the first election held in Lake County. Amsi 
L. Ball was elected in North, Solon Robinson in Centre, 
and Robert Wilkinson in South Township. These jus- 
tices held office till the county organization took place. 
According to my authority here, the justice in North had 
5 two or three cases, in Centre one, in South none. 



^8 LAKE COUNTY. 

Settlers came in this year rapidly. On the east side of 
Cedar Lake Adonijah Taylor and Horace Edgerton, Hor- 
ace Taylor and Dr. Calvin Lilley established themselves. 
At the head of the lake the Nordyke family, Hiram Nor- 
dyke, sen., and sons, and sons-in-law, H. Bones and J. 
C. Batten, made claims ; and also Solomon Russell. On 
the southwest shore of the lake the two fishermen fam- 
ilies settled, Jonathan Gray and Lyman Mann. The 
Church family, Richard Church and sons, Darling, John, 
and Charles, and son-in-law, Leonard Cutler, from the 
state of New York, settled on Prairie West. James Far- 
well and sons. Major, Abel, and Carlos, took up claims- 
over West Creek, and a number of others soon joined 
them. Of these others Charles Marvin yet remains. I 
name a few others among the many whose names are 
given as claimants in 1836. John McClean, in the Bel- 
shaw Grove; Jacob Mendenhall and Wm. A. Purdy, near 
Lowell ; Moffard, Orrin Smith, and Joseph Morris, in 
South East Grove ; William Merrill and Dudley Merrill 
near Centreville ; three brothers by the name of Greene, 
Sylvester T., Edward, and Elisha, north of Cedar Lake; 
and three families of Van Volkenburgs, also Cassidy,. 
Prentice, and David Fowler, north of the Robinson set- 
tlement. In September George Earle settled at Liver- 
pool. 

Squatter life was busy during the summer of this year, 
erecting cabins in the groves and making little patches of 
breaking on the prairies. Here and there also fences 
appeared ; yet over the larger prairies few were the signs 
of civilization when this season closed. 

A Methodist Episcopal missionary preacher named 



SQUATTER LIFE. 39 

Jones, sent by the Presiding Elder of the Northern Indi- 
ana Conference, who was then residing at South Bend, 
found his way, during this summer, into the county, and 
preached at the house of Thomas Reed and probably at 
Pleasant Grove. 

The town of Liverpool was laid out, probably, in the 
spring of this year ; and in July lots were sold there 
amounting to ^16,000. Payment was made partly in 
cash, partly in notes. Bonds were given for the execu- 
tion of deeds upon the payment of the notes. One of 
these bonds is now in my possession, binding John B, 
Chapman, Henry Fredrickson, and Nathaniel Davis, " in 
the penal sum of one hundred and sixty dollars, good and 
lawful money of the United States," — there was "wild- 
cat money " in those days — to execute a deed to S. Ed- 
wards of lot number 107, on the payment of notes, 
amounting to sixty dollars, twenty dollars having been; 
paid in cash. The bond bears date July 12th, 1836, and 
was signed in presence of George H. Phillips. 

On the fourth day of July, in this year, the "Squatters' 
Union of Lake County" was organized. The following 
is a copy from the original record : 

"At a meeting of a majority of the citizens of 
Lake County, held at the house of Solon Rob- 
inson on the 4th of July, 1836, for the purpose of 
adopting measures and forming a constitution for 
the better security of the settlers upon the public 
lands, Wm. Clark was unanimously elected to preside 
over the meeting, and Solon Robinson for secretary. 
After hearing the object stated for which the meeting was, 
called it was moved that a committee of five be appointed 
to report a constitution and rules for the government of 



40 • LAKE COUNTY. 

the members of this Union. Whereupon, Henry Wells, 
David Hornor, Solon Robinson, Thomas Brown, Thomas 
Wiles were elected. After due deliberation they report- 
ed to the meeting the Constitution hereto annexed, re- 
corded on pages 4, 5, and 6 of this book, which, after be- 
ing read by the secretary, was afterwards discussed, ex- 
amined and finally adopted article by article, being fully 
approved by a majority of the meeting. 

"On motion, the meeting then proceeded to elect a 
Register and a board of three County Arbitrators, Solon 
Robinson being nominated Register, and Wm. Clark, 
Henry Wells, and S. P. Stringham being nominated Ar- 
bitrators, were all unanimously elected. 

"After some further discussion the meeting informally 
adjourned." 

The record says this meeting was held "at the house;" 
it does not say " in;" and evidently not very many could 
have found comfortable standing room inside of that smalj 
cabin. I am told by an eye witness, that the meeting 
really was held in the grove, and that over the officers' 
•stand a knife and a tomahawk were suspended, as the 
emblems of squatter sovereignty, the significant warning 
•of what speculators might expect. 

The following is the Constitution then adopted : 

""constitution of the squatters' union, in lake 
county, indiana. 

" Preamble. Whereas, The settlers upon the public 
lands in this county, not having any certain prospect of 
having their rights and claims secured to them by a preemp- 
tion law of Congress, and feeling the strong present neces- 



SQUATTER LIFE. 4I 

sity of their becoming united in such a manner as to guard 
against speculation upon our rights, have met and united 
together to maintain and support each other, on the 4th 
of July, 1836; and now firmly convinced of the justness 
of our cause, do most solemnly pledge ourselves to each 
other, by the strong ties of interest and brotherly feeling, 
that we will abide by the several resolutions hereto at- 
tached (and to which we will sign our names), in the 
most faithful manner. 

"Article ist. Resolved^ That every person who bears 
all the dangers and difficulties of settling a new and 
unimproved country is justly entitled to the privilege 
heretofore extended to settlers by Congress, to purchase 
their lands at a dollar and a quarter an acre. 

"Article 2d. Resolved^ That if Congress should neg- 
lect or refuse to pass a law before the land on which we 
live is offered for sale, which shall secure to us our rights, 
we will hereafter adopt such measures as may be necessary 
effectually to secure each other in our just claims. 

"Article 3d. Resolved^ That we will not aid any per- 
son to purchase his claim at the land sale, according to 
this constitution unless he is at the time an actual settler 
upon government lands, and has complied with all of the 
requisitions of this Constitution. 

"Article 4th. Resolved, That all the settlers in this 
county, and also in the adjoining unsold lands in Porter 
county (if they are disposed to join us), shall be consid- 
ered members of this Union as soon as they sign this Con- 
stitution, and entitled to all its advantages, whether 
present at this meeting or not. 



42 LAKE COUNTY. 

"Article 5th. Resolved, That for the permanent and 
quiet adjustment of all differences that may arise among 
the settlers in regard to their claims, that there shall be 
elected by this meeting, a County Board of three Arbi- 
trators, and also a Register of claims, who also shall per- 
form the duties of clerk to the County Board, Arbitrators, 
and also the duties of a general corresponding secretary. 
In all elections, the person having the highest number of 
votes shall be elected. 

"Article 6th. Resolved, That the person who- may 
be elected Register (if he accept the office) shall take 
an oath or affirmation, that he will faithfully perform all 
the duties enjoined upon him. He shall forthwith pro- 
vide himself with a map of the county (which shall be 
subject to the inspection of every person desiring it), on 
which he shall mark all claims registered, so that it can 
be seen what land is claimed and what is not ; and also 
a book in which he shall register every claimant's name, 
and the number of the land which he claims, when it 
was first claimed, and when the claimant settled upon it, 
and the date when registered, where the occupant was 
from, and any other matter deemed necessary for public 
information, or that the County Board may order. 

" He shall give persons applying all information in his 
power in regard to claims or vacant land, that shall be 
calculated to promote the settlement of the county. He 
shall also reply in the same manner to letters addressed 
him on the subject (provided the applicant pays his own 
postage.) He shall attend all the meetings of the Coun- 
ty Board, record their proceedings, and ]:)erform their 
orders. When required by a member, stating the object, 



SQUATTER LIFE. 43 

he shall issue notice to the County or District Board, 
when, where, and for what purpose they are to meet. 

" Fees : For every claim he registers, twenty-five cents ; 
and he shall, if required, give the claimant a certificate 
stating the number of the land, and when registered. 
For issuing notice to Arbitrators to meet, 12 cents. For 
attending their meeting the same fees that are allowed 
them. For duties of corresponding secretary no fees 
shall be required, 

"Article 7. Resolved, That its hall be the duty of 
every person, when they sign this Constitution, or as soon 
thereafter as may be, to apply to the Register to have the 
land he claims, registered (paying the Register his fees at 
the same time). Where the claimant now resides upon 
the land which he claims, his claim shall be considered 
and held good as soon as registered. Every sale or 
transfer of titles shall be registered the same as new 
claims. Any person desirous of claiming any land now 
unoccupied, shall apply to have the same registered, and 
if he is a resident of the county at the time he applies, 
residing with, or upon any claim belonging to any other 
person, or upon any land that has been floated upon by 
Indian or preemption claims, he shall be entitled to hold 
the claim he registers, while he remains a citizen of the 
county, provided, he shall within thirty days after regis- 
tering it, make or cause to be made some prominent im- 
provement upon it, and continue to improve the same to 
the satisfaction of the County or District Board of Arbi- 
trators. Any non-resident who may hereafter be desirous 
to join this Union shall first sign the Constitution, and 
after registering his claim, shall proceed, within thirty 



44 LAKE COUNTY. 

days, to occupy it with his family, or else make a durable 
and permanent improvement, either by building a good 
cabin for his residence, or by plowing at least four acres, 
and then if he is not able to continue the occupancy of 
his claim either personally or by a substitute, he shall ap- 
ply to the Arbitrators, stating his reasons for necessary 
absence, whether to move on his family, or whether for 
other purposes ; and they shall certify to him what amount 
of labor he shall perform or cause to be performed with- 
in a given length of time to entitle him to hold his claim 
while he is absent, or for a certain time, which when done 
and proved to the Register and entered on record, shall 
as fully entitle the claimant to his claim as though he re- 
sided on it. Provided, the Board shall never grant a cer- 
tificate to extend his absence one year from the date, 
unless the claimant has performed at least one hundred 
dollars worth of labor on his claim, and satisfied the 
Board fully that he wnll within that time become an 
actual settler upon it. 

" Any member of this Union may also register and im- 
prove claims for his absent friends, as above provided, if 
he can and will satisfy the Board (of the county or dis- 
trict), that the identical person for whom he makes the 
claim will actually become a settler and reside upon it 
within the specified time. 

" Any person found guilty by the Board of making 
fraudulent claims for speculating purposes, shall, if a 
member, forfeit his membership in this Union, and forfeit 
all right and title to hold the same, and it shall be de- 
clared confiscated and shall be sold as provided for all 
forfeited claims, in Article 9th. 



SQUATTER LIFE. 45, 

" Every person requiring the services of the Arbitrators, 
shall, if required, secure to them before they are bound 
to act, one dollar and fifty cents for each day's services, of 
each and all other necessary expense of magistrate,, 
v/itnesses. Register, or other unavoidable expense. 

" Article 8th. Resolved, that each congressional town- 
ship, or any settlement confined in two or more townships, 
containing twenty members, may unite and elect a Board 
of three Arbitrators, who shall possess the same power ta 
settle disputes (when applied to) within their district that 
the County Board have. And any member of that district: 
may either submit his case to the District or County Board. 
The opposite party may object to one or two of the Dis- 
trict Board, and call one or two of the County Board, or 
some disinterested member, to sit in their places, pro- 
vided he pays the extra expense so occasioned. All 
decisions of County or District Board shall be final. 

"Either of the parties, or the District Board, may require 
the Register to attend their meetings and record their 
proceedings. But if he is not present they shall certify 
their judgment to him immediately, and he shall register 
it as any other claim. 

" Any member may also object to one of the County 
Board, upon the same terms, and require one of a District 
Board, or some disinterested member, to sit in his 'place. 
The same proceedings shall also take place where one of 
the Board are interested in the dispute. The District 
Board may order district meetings, and the County Board 
county meetings. 

" Article 9th. Resolved, That the Board of Arbitrators, 
shall, as soon as may be, take an oath or affirmation before 



46 LAKE COUNTY. 

some magistrate, faithfully and impartially to perform all 
the duties enjoined upon them, not inconsistent with law, 
and that they will do all acts in their power for the bene- 
fit of members of this Union. 

" On being duly notified, they shall convene, and if they 
•see proper, they shall make their acts a rule of court be- 
fore some magistrate, according to the statute provided 
for arbitrated cases. 

" They may require the parties in the case to be tried, to 
be sworn, or affirmed, and hear arguments of parties or 
counsel, and finally decide which party is justly entitled to 
hold the claim, and which party shall pay costs or damages. 

It shall be the duty of the County or District Board 
where the claim is situated, to take possession of any 
claim confiscated under the i:)rovisions of article seven, 
or any unoccupied non-resident claim, the claimant of 
which has neglected to occupy or improve the same, ac- 
cording to the terms and within the time specified in the 
•certificate, and sell the same to some other person who 
will become a settler on it, keeping the money obtained 
for it in their hands (unless hereafter a treasurer shall be 
appointed) for a fund to defray any expense that may be 
deemed necessary to maintain our just rights or advance 
the interest of the Union. And if a fund so accumulated 
shall not be required for such i)urpose, the Board shall 
use it toward purchasing land for any needy widows, or 
orphan children, or needy members of this Union. 

" Provided that the Board having jurisdiction may ex- 
tend the time to any claimant holding a certificate from 
them, or application through the corresponding secretary, if 
the claimant can give them satisfactory reasons therefor, 



SQUATTER LIFE. 47 

and they may also, when they have sold a forfeited claim, if 
they deem it just and reasonable, for good cause thereon, 
refund to the certificate claimant the amount he had 
actually expended upon it, and retain in the fund only 
the overplus that the same sold for. 

"Any officer of this Union, or any member, shall be 
discarded if convicted of gross neglect of duty, or im- 
moral conduct tending to injure the character of the 
Union. 

"Article loth. Resolved, That every white person 
capable of transacting business, and making or causing 
to be made, an improvement on a claim, with the evident 
design of becoming a settler thereon, shall be entitled to be 
protected in holding a claim on one quarter section, and 
no more — except, where persons holding claims on the 
prairie or open barrens, where the Board may decide they 
have not sufficient timber to support their farm, shall be 
allowed to divide one quarter section of timber between 
four such prairie claims. 

The Board of Arbitrators may require any person mak- 
ing a claim to take an oath or affirmation that he intends 
the same for actual settlement, or (if timber) use of his 
farm. No person settling in thick timber shall be allow- 
ed to hold more than eighty acres of timber, but shall 
be protected in a claim of eighty acres on the prairie. 

"Article nth. Resolved, T\idiX before land is offered 
for sale, that each district shall select a bidder to attend 
and bid off all claims, in the claimant's name, and that, if 
necessary, every settler will constantly attend the sale, 
prepared to aid each other to the full extent of our ability 
in obtaining every claimant's land at government price. 



48 LAKE COUNTY. 

" Article 12th. Fcsohrd, I'hat after the board of Ar- 
bitrators have decided that any individual has obtruded 
upon another claim, and he refuses to give the legal 
owner peaceable possession, that we will not deal with, or 
countenance him as a settler until he makes the proper 
restitution. 

"Article 13th. Resolved, That we' will each use our 
endeavors to advance the rapid settlement of the coun- 
ty, by inviting our friends and acquaintance to join us, 
under the full assurance that we shall now obtain our 
rights, and that it is now perfectly as safe to go on im- 
proving the public land as though we already had our 
titles from government. 

"Article 14th. Resolved, That a meeting duly called 
by the County Board may alter and amend this Consti- 
tution. 

" Lake County, Indiana, July 6, 1836. 

" I do certify that the foregoing Constitution, as here re- 
corded, is a true copy from the original draft reported by 
the committee, and adopted by the meeting, except 
slight grammatical alterations not varying the true sense of 
any article. 

"Attest. Solon Robinson, Register." 

Attached to it are 476 signatures. 

A few cases of arbitration occurred in regard to dis- 
puted claims. To enter upon land which another had 
claimed was called " jumjiing " it ; and there were, it 
seems, a few accidental or intentional "jumpers." 

The following extracts from the records will surely be 
of interest as showing the customs of squatter rule : 



SQUATTER LIFE. 49 

'^'Aug. 12. Notified County Board of Arbitrators to 
meet August 13, at G. W. Turner's, to decide disputed 
claim between Sani'l Haviland and John Harrison, on 
Sec. 13, sw. i^ T. 36, R. 8. Aug. 13. * * They de- 
cided that Haviland hold the claim on paying Harrison 
five dollars for his labor, and that Harrison pay the costs, 
amounting to four dollars and fifty cents." 

Harrison, it is to be supposed, had "jumped" this claim 
and so was the aggressor. 

" 1837, March 16. This day an arbitration was held 
between Denton and Henry Miller and John Reed, who 
had gone on to Millers' claim and built a cabin, and the 
Arbitrators decide that Reed shall give up the cabin to 
Millers, and pay the costs of this arbitration, but that Mil- 
lers shall pay Reed seventeen dollars for the cabin which 
he has built." 

In some cases the costs were divided equally between 
the parties. 

From the decisions of the arbitrators there seems to 
have been no appeal, in the nature of the case there could 
be none ; and with the decisions the parties appear to 
have been satisfied. Ten cases of arbitration are on the 
records. 

While improvements were going on during this busy 
summer every family needed food. The settlers of 1835 
had raised provisions sufficient for themselves ; but not 
even in La Porte county had a supply been raised suffi- 
cient to meet the wants of new settlers. And on this 
account " most of the Lake county settlers had to draw 
their provisions from the Wabash during the summer of 
1836." 



5© LAKE COUNTY. 

In the fall the first regular physician, Dr. Palmer, was 
numbered among the settlers. The nearest physician up 
to this time resided at Michigan City, where was also the 
nearest postofifice until the spring of this year. 

In March, Solon Robinson, having made application 
for a post office, was appointed postmaster, authorized to 
bring the mail from Michigan City for the proceeds of 
the office. These proceeds were, up to October i, $15. 
This would hardly pay for bringing it often. The office 
was named Lake Court House, usually written Lake C. 
H. The next offices west then were Joliet and Chicago. 

The first settlers' store also dates its opening in 1836, 
established by Solon and Milo Robinson, who sold, during 
the winter of 1836-37, about $3,000 worth of goods out 
of a little log hut that used to stand beside the " old log 
court house." Their best customers were the Pottawat- 
omies, from whom they " obtained great quantities of furs 
and cranberries" in exchange for goods. 

A saw mill was commenced in the fall of this year, on 
the outlet of Cedar Lake, by Calvin Lilley and David 
Reed ; but the one first in operation was built by Wilson 
S. Harrison, which, in the spring of '37, furnished oak 
lumber for $15 per thousand. 



III. 
In 1837 Lake county was organized. The mail was 
slow, and a special messenger, John Russell, was sent to 
Indianapolis to obtain the appointment of a sheriff, and 
authority to hold an election. He made the trip on foot 
and outstripped the mail. Henry Wells was appointed 
sheriff. An election was ordered and held. Officers 



SQUATTER LIFE. 51 

elected : Wm. Clark and Wm. B. Crooks, associate 
judges; Amsi L. Ball, Stephen P. Stringham, and Thos. 
Wiles, county commissioners ; W. A. W. Holton, recorder ; 
Solon Robinson, clerk. First assessor, John Russell. 
Justices of the peace elected : in North township, Peyton 
Russell ; in Center, Horace Taylor ; at Cedar Lake^ 
Milo Robinson, and in South, E. W. Bryant. In August 
Luman A. Fowler was elected sheriff, and Robert Wilkin- 
son, probate judge. 

The log building used for several years as a court house 
and place of worship, connected with which are many in- 
teresting associations, was erected this summer by Solon 
and Milo Robinson, who also erected a frame building, 
one of the first in the county, which was used as a hotel 
for several years. It became a part of the home of H. S. 
Pelton. Other frame buildings were, during this sum- 
mer, erected. 

The first Methodist class was probably organized this. 
year at Pleasant Grove ; and there was preaching several 
times at Solon Robinson's and in the court house. Lake- 
county being this year a part of the Porter County Mis- 
sion, Rev. — Beers minister in charge. Claims were ta- 
ken up during this year very rapidly, and the year 1837 
closes up the entries in the Claim Register. 

Of the many settlers this season I name here especially 
Bartlett Woods and Charles Woods, natives of Winchel- 
sea, England ; Hervey Ball and Lewis Warriner, of Aga- 
wam, Massachusetts; George Flint, Benjamin Farley, 
Henry Torrey, and Joseph Jackson ; Henry Sanger, 
Ephraim Cleveland, William Sherman, A. D. Foster; and, 
first of the German settlers on Prairie West, John Hack^ 



52 LAKE COUNTY. 

with his large family and, according to current report, a 
•chest well filled with five-franc pieces. 

Among so many it is difficult to select any out, as most 
•of the permanent early settlers became well known over 
the county. I therefore insert here the names, in the order 
of the years, of those whose early citizenship can be estab- 
lished by documentary evidence. 

Settlers in 1834. 

According to Robinson's 'Records there was a set- 
tler, probably, by the name of Ross this summer on Sec. 
6, Township 35, Range 7, and on the same section one 
was seen by S. Robinson, in October, " in a little shed 
cabin," whose name he was unable to record, his claim 
afterwards becoming "Miller's Mill." From the Claim 
Register I extract the following: "Wm. Crooks and 
Samuel Miller in Co. Timber and Mill Seat." Claim 
made June, 1835. Settled Nov., 1834. Sec. 6, Town- 
ship 35, Range 7. Crooks, from Montgomery county. 
It is probable that this W. Crooks was the settler there 
seen in October. 

Also, those Records state, that an old man named 
Winchell, from La Porte county, settled, in the summer 
of this year, and commenced a mill near the mouth of 
Turkey Creek, which claim and mill he afterwards aban- 
doned. 

Naming those, I now record as settlers in fact : 

October. 

Thomas Childers. 

November. 
Solon Robinson. 

Luman A. Fowler, Robert Wilkinson, 



SQUATTER LIFE. 



53 



December. 

Jesse Pierce, David Pierce. 

The last two settlers, according to the Claim Register, 
on Deep River and Turkey Creek. 



Lyman Wells, 



Settlers in 1835. 

jfanuary'. 

John Driscoll. 



Februaty. 
J. W. Holton, W. A. W. Holton, 

Wm. Clark, from Jennings County. 

March. 

Robert Wilkinson, Attica. 



R. Fancher, 

Elias Bryant, 
J. Wiggins, 

Elias Myrick, 
Wm. Myrick, 



Spring. 

Nancy Agnew, widow,, 
E. W. Bryant. 

May. 
Thomas Reed^ 
Aaron Cox, 



S. P. Stringham, Vermillion, 111. 
June. 



Peter Stainbrook. 

David Hornor, 
Thomas Wiles, 
Thomas Hornor, 

Henry Wells, 
Wm. S. Thornburg, 
R. Dunham, 



November. 

Jesse Bond, 
Jacob L. Brown, 
Milo Robinson. 

December. 

John G. Forbes, 
R. Hamilton, 
John Wood. 



54 lake county, 

Settlers in 1836. 

William A. Purdy, New York. 

Elisha Chapman, Michigan City, 

S. Havilance, Canada, William N. Sykes, 

David Campbell, W. Williams, La Porte, 

Benj. Joslen, John Ball. 

Richard Church, Michigan, Darling Church, Michigan. 

Leonard Cutler, " Charles Cutler, " 

B. Rhodes, La Porte, J. Rhodes, La Porte, 

Jacob Van Valkenburg, New York. 

Jas. S. Castle, Michigan City, 

Hiram Nordyke, sen., Tippecanoe. 

Charles H. Paine, Ohio. 

Hiram Nordyke, jr., Tippecanoe County, 

Joseph C. Batton, Boone County, 

James Knickerbocker, New York, 

John T. Knickerbocker, G. C. Woodbridge, 

H. Bones, John J. Van Valkenburg, 

Horace Taylor, S. D. Bryant, 

Daniel E. Bryant, Peter Barnard, 

Jonathan Brown, E. J. Robinson, 

David Fowler, Cyrus Danforth, 

M. Pierce, State of New York, 

Sprague Lee, Pennsylvania, 

John A. Bothwell, Vermont, 

Peleg S. Mason, 

Adonijah Taylor, " Timber and Outlet." 

The last according to Claim Register, " May 15th." 

John Cole, New York, F. A. Halbrook, New York, 

Stephen Mix, New York, Silas Clough, New York. 



SQUATTER LIFE. 



Rufus Norton, Canada, Elijah Morton, Vermont, 

Francis Barney, Hiram Holmes, 

Samuel Halsted "Timber and Millseat." 

" Nov, 29th transferred to James M. Whitney and 
Mark Burroughs for $212." 

Calvin Lilley, South Bend, 

Samuel Hutchins, La Porte, 

Jacob Nordyke, Tippecanoe. 

Hiram S. Pelton, New York, 

Ithamar Cobb, 

J. P. Smith, New York, — settled July 5th. 

G. Zuver, Bartholomew County, 

H. McGee, 

Henry Farmer, Bartholomew County. 

William S. Hunt, " blacksmith," Wayne County. 

George Parkinson, 



;S. Wilson, 
Abel Farwell, 
M. C. Farwell, 
Ruth Barney, widow, 
James Anderson, 
Simeon Beedle, 
William Wells, 
W. W. Centre, 
E. Dustin, jun., 
Charles Marvin, 
Peter Selpry, 
H. M. Beedle, 
D. Y. Bond, 
John Kitchel, 



James Farwell, 
Carlos Farwell, 
Henry Horner, 
J. V. Johns. 
E. W. Centre, 
Isaac M. Beedle, 
S. D. Wells, 
T. M. Dustin, 
C. L. Greenman, 
Mercy Perry, widow, 
Jacob Mendenhall, 
B. Rich, 
S. L. Hodgman, 
Henry A. Palmer, 



56 



LAKE COUNTY. 



Paul Palmer, 

D. Barney, 
George Earle, 
A. Hitchcock, 
O. Hitchcock, 
Russell Eddy, 
Wm. Brown, 
Charles Walton, 
Jonathan Gray, 
Edward Greene, 
Elisha Greene, 
R. Wilder, 
Solomon Russell, 
A. Albee. 

James Westbrook, 
John Bothwell, 
Henry Torrey, 
Joseph Batton, 
N. Hayden, 
N. Cochrane, 
Lewis Warriner, 

E. T. Fish, 
John Fish, 
George Flint, 
Benjamin Farley, 
D. R. Stewart, 
H. Galespie, 

J. H. Martin. 
T. Sprague, 
J. Hutchinson, 



H. Edgarton, 
Wm. Hodson, 
Jackson Cady, 
E. H. Hitchcock, 
J. V. Johns, 
C. Carpenter, 
R. S. Witherel, 
Wm. Farmer, 
Nathan D. Hall, 
S. T. Greene, 
W. Page, 
John McLean, 
Daniel May, 

Settlers in 1837, 

Samuel Sigler, 
John Brown, 
S. Hodgman, 
John Kitchel, 
H. R. Nichols, 
A. Baldwin, 
Josiah Chase, 
Charles R. Ball, 
Hervey Ball, 
Lewis Manning, 
Ephraim Cleveland, 
Wm. Sherman, 
T. Sprague, 
John Hack, 
G. L. Zabriska, 
John Hutchinson, 



SQUATTER LIFE. 



57 



E. L. Palmer, 
N. Reynolds, 
B. Demon, 
Joel Benton, 
John L. Ennis, 
Dennis Donovan, 
Patrick Donovan, 
Thomas Donovan, 
Daniel Donovan, 
Oliver Fuller, 
Thomas Tindal, 
Orrin Dorwin, 
H. Severns, 
Hiram Barnes, 
Bartlett Woods, 
Charles Woods, • 
Dudley Merrill, 
J. F. Follett, 
A. D. Foster, 
Adam Sanford, 
Charles Mathews, 
James Carpenter, 
Jacob Ross, 
Patrick Doyle, 



Lewis Swaney, 
Francis Swaney, 
O. V. Servis, 
Thomas O'Brien, 
Orrin Smith, 

D. B. Collings, 
Z. Collings, 
Timothy Rockwell, 
Jesse Cross, 

E. Cross, " 
R. Cross, 
A. L. Ball, 
Daniel Bryant, 

Wid. Elizabeth Owens, 

E. D. Owens, 

N. Pierce, 

Wm. Vangorder, 

G. W. Hammond, 

J. Rhodes, 

Joseph Jackson, 

O. Higbee, 

Z. Woodford, 

Wm. Hobson, 

P. Anson. 



W. J. Richards. 

The register is not entire, and the names of all the 
settlers of 1837 cannot now be ascertained by any means 
at my command. 

In the winter of 1837-38 Congress established some mail 
routes through this county, which had been crossed till 
now by only the Detroit and Fort Dearborn mail, carried 



58 LAKE COUNTY. 

in coaches along the Michigan beach, then by way 
of Liverpool, and again removed to the Bradley route. 
The new ones of 1838 were: first, from La Porte to Joliet, 
taken by H. S. Pelton, and the principal mail line of the 
county for a number of years, probably till the railroad 
era commenced ; and the second, from Michigan City to 
Peoria, let to be carried in four-horse coaches, but the 
coaches did not run, and a remnant of that route, from 
City West to West Creek, gave us a mail carried on horse- 
back, which continued for several years, its western ter- 
minus being Bourbonnois Grove, near Kankakee City ; 
and the third, from Lake Court House to Monticello, in 
White county. This last was also taken by H. S. Pelton, 
"but was afterwards found to be through such an inter- 
minable wilderness that it was discontinued." Congress 
had not at that time studied the geography and history 
of the Kankakee Marsh, and of the counties of Iroquois 
and Newton and Jasper. 

This year marked the beginning of bridge-building in 
our borders. The two northeast of Crown Point were 
built by Daniel May and Hiram Nordyke, at an expense 
of $500. The bridge across West Creek, near Judge Wil- 
kinson's, built by N. Hayden, cost $400. The one across 
Cedar Creek, near L. Warriner's, by S. P. Stringham and 
R. Wilkinson, cost $200. The Deep River, bridge, at B. 
Wilkinson's, cost $400, built by A. L. Ball. Several 
smaller ones were also built. Our streams were no longer 
" bridgeless," like the modern Euphrates. The money 
for building came from "the three per cent, fund." 

It was also a year of saw-mill building. Accredited to 
this year are Walton's, Wood's, Dustin's, and Taylor's. 



SQUATTER LIFE. 59 

Only one of these, Wood's, furnished much lumber. 
Of one of them it was expressly said, it was " about half 
the time without water, and the other half without a dam." 
The first mill-builders found great difficulty in making 
their earth dams secure against the freshets. The bea- 
vers of this region, in the days before the fur-traders 
came, seem to have been more successful. The remains 
of their earthen works may still be traced west and south 
of Crown Point. 

In October of this year was held the first term of Cir- 
cuit Court, Judge Sample presiding, Judge Clark associ- 
ate. The session was very quiet and peaceable. There 
were then no drinking places. Men were not cross, nor 
quarrelsome, nor drunk. Nine lawyers were present. Of 
the members of the first grand jury, only John Wood 
and Henry Wells remain among us. Of the first petit 
jury, Richard Fancher alone remains. On the docket of 
that term were thirty cases. 

The first marriage license here issued seems to belong 
to this year. It was for John Russell and Harriet Holton. 
The first citizen married in the county was David Bryant 
(the bride's name is not given), the license having been 
obtained in Porter county. The ceremony was performed 
December 2, by S. Robinson, who says, "Another of my 
official acts, as a Justice of the Peace. Done on a most 
excessive cold day." 

The second marriage was that of Solomon Russell. 

The fourth, that of John Russell, has just been men- 
tioned ; and the second and fourth parties married became 
the first and second to obtain divorce, an example which 
has been followed by far too many ever since. 



6o LAKE COUNTY. 

The year 1838 marks the commencement of Baptist 
meetings in Lake. A church was constituted in the Ce- 
dar Lake school-house, June 17th, nine Baptist members 
from Massachusetts and New York entering then and 
there into self-constituted church relationship. Elder 
French, of Porter county, was present and acted as mod- 
erator of the meeting. 

" Meetings on Sabbath appointed to be held at Prairie 
West, Centre Prairie, and H. Balls, alternately." The 
Church and Cutler families lived on Prairie West and 
Norman Warriner on Centre Prairie. According to the 
church records meetings were held according to appoint- 
ments for five Sabbaths, after which sickness for a season 
prevented attendance. Says the next record : " From 
continued distressing sickness no meetings were held 
until the latter part^of winter." The church was not, 
therefore, publicly recognized until May 19th, 1839, but 
its constitution dates June 17, 1838. On the record book 
of that first Baptist church are the names of ninety-five 
members, forty-two of them baptized in Cedar Lake. 

The sickness of the summer of 1838 was long remem- 
bered. It is probable that more died during that season, 
in proportion to the inhabitants, than during any other 
season in our history. Among them were, the wife of 
Lewis Warriner, who died Aug. 24th, and also his young- 
est daughter, Sabra. 

This was a summer also of excessive drouth. 

Many improvements were made in the county this 
year, notwithstanding the sickness. An addition was 
made to the German settlement on Prairie West. The 



SQUATTER LIFE. ' 6l 

town house at Liverpool was completed, a line of daily 
stages running then through that city. 

Russell Eddy completed his frame house and moved 
his family up from Michigan City. In that house, which 
is now standing just north of the new residence of E. C. 
Field, was, without much doubt, the first piano of the 
county, brought with the household goods from Michigan 
City, and over its keys presided the graceful Eliza, fresh 
from the schools of Troy, N. Y., the most polished and 
accomplished, at that time, of the young ladies of Lake. 
She soon married and left us, and her place was filled by 
the less accomplished but lovely and beautiful Ruth Ann. 

She grew up, married D. K. Pettibone, soon after died, 
and by most is probably forgotten, or I should not have 
named her here in mentioning her father's first home. 

An addition was made this year to the settlement over 
West Creek. Solomon Burns and family, with his broth- 
er, Harry Burns, a brother-in-law named Hazelton, and 
George Willey and family, came together, with four wag- 
ons drawn by horses, from the State of New York. 
They were on the road four weeks. They crossed on 
the Torrey bridge, then went northward and bought 
claims of the Farwell family. The Hazelton family af- 
terward removed westward. The Burns family settled 
where Abel Farwell, who married a daughter of S. Burns, 
now resides. For the claim a pair of valuable young 
horses had been transferred to James Farwell. These 
the lightning, not long afterward, struck and killed. 
George Willey was then comm-encing life, when he settled 
on a claim just east of the present village of Klaasville. 
He remained there many years, accummulated property. 



62 LAKE COUNTY. 

sold his farm, purchased land near Crown Point, and 
built one of the five best country residences in the coun- 
ty in which he now lives, surrounding himself and family 
with those conveniences and elegances which wealth 
procures. His is more properly a surburban than a 
country residence. 

Another daughter of S. Burns married H. P. Robbins, 
who some years ago, having lost both his sons in the war 
of the Rebellion, removed to Lowell and became one of 
its business men, and now also marshal of the town. 
Solomon Burns died in 1847, at the age of 47. As a some- 
what singular coincidence it may be noted here, that a 
cousin of his, Clark Rice, who came out to make a visit in 
1846, died there, at the home of George Willey,'at the age 
of 46. The remains of the two cousins lie side by side in 
that neglected West Creek burial-place, both born in 1800. 
This little West Creek settlement, consisting of the fami- 
lies, Rankin, Hitchcock, Gordinier, Marvin, Burns, Far- 
well, Willey, Fuller, remained quite isolated until the 
building of the Hanover bridge. 

Among the German settlers of this summer on Prairie 
West were Joseph Schmal and Peter Orte, Michael Ad- 
ler and Matthias Reder. These four families came over 
together. 

Another settlement was commenced this year in Han- 
over. The pioneer of the Lutheran Germans was Henry 
Sasse, sen., who bought the claim of A. Cox, and also 
one made by Chase and Taylor, paying for the improve- 
ments on the latter $150. In the same year came H. 
Van Hollen, and other families soon followed these until 
a large settlement occupied the northern part of Lake 



SQUATTER LIFE. 6^ 

Prairie, and along the West Creek woods made farms of 
the choice hunting grounds. 

The privilege had been granted to the State of select- 
ing a certain amount of government lands for the benefit 
of the Wabash Canal. This selection in Lake was made 
in the month of June, this year, and Col. John Vawter, 
one of the commissioners, while here, preached in the log 
court house "to a very respectable congregation." 

'' The Methodist Episcopal Church," says an old man- 
uscript, " may be considered as regularly organized in 
the county from this time;" that is, from the summer of 
1838, " forming with Porter county a circuit, and sup- 
plied with preaching at stated times. " I find no early docu- 
ments or records in the hands of any of this denomina- 
tion, and am obliged to glean my information from other 
sources. It seems strange that such a large and growing 
body have preserved so little of their early history. 

A number of the settlers, late in the fall of this year, 
proved up their preemption rights and entered their land 
before the public sale. 

The first of these, probably, were S. Robinson and 
Judge Clark. 

As the first of January, 1839, opened, death for the first 
time visited the little settlement at Lake Court House. 
It came in the form of consumption and laid low one of 
the active business men, Milo Robinson. After his 
death Luman A. Fowler kept the tavern house until the 
next fall, when he removed to Lockport, Illinois, where 
canal building was going on. After his removal H. S. 
Pelton married, took the house, afterwards purchased it,. 
and occupied it until his own death. 



•64 LAKE COUNTY. 

In March of this year that event of so much interest to 
those early settlers, the sale of United States Lands, took 
place at La Porte. The sales commenced on the 19th. 
The squatters of Lake were in large force gathered there. 
The hardy pioneers, accustomed to frontier life and to 
depend on their strong arms and trusty rifles ; the New 
Englanders and the Yorkers, almost direct from those 
centers of culture, and possessing their share of the in- 
telligence and energy of those regions; and the firm, 
sturdy, solid Germans, like those that of late broke 
the power of the third Napoleon, — Germans who had 
just left the despotisms of the Old World and had receiv- 
ed their lessons of freedom in the New, amid the wild- 
ness of untrodden Western prairies ; all were there, de- 
termined that no speculator should bid upon their lands. 
Some trouble had been anticipated. The principle 
upon which the squatters insisted was of importance to 
them. They were probably prepared, — from what I 
heard in those days of my youth, I am satisfied they 
were prepared — armed men were among them — to use 
force, if it should be necessary, to secure the right which 
each squatter claimed of buying his own quarter section 
at one dollar and a quarter an acre. They knew that in 
the wilds of Lake, in the retreats of the Kankakee 
marsh, no officers of justice would search for them if their 
mode of enforcing their claim should be called lawless. 
But there arose no necessity. The impression was 
strongly made that it would not be safe for a speculator 
to overbid a squatter, about five hundred of whom had 
solemnly pledged themselves to each other to abide, in 
the most faithful manner, by their own assertion of 



SQUATTER LIFE. 65' 

squatters' rights. The moral force employed was sufifi- 
cient. Solon Robinson was bidder for one township, 
William Kinnison for another, and A. McDonald for the 
third. The sale passed off quietly, and the sons of Lake 
returned peacefully to their homes. But unfortunately 
for some of them, they had expended their silver and 
gold in making improvements and amid the sickness, 
and 'suffering, and death of 1838, " the wild cat " money 
was not current at the land office, and now what the spec- 
ulators could not effect in one way they easily accomplish- 
ed in another. They offered to loan these men money 
for entering their claims, on the security of their lands, 
and charged them twenty, thirty, or more, per cent. And 
thus, after all their care, considerable tracts of Lake 
county land came into the hands of non-residents. 

Another eventof some importance took place this year, 
the location of the county seat at the town of Liver- 
pool by commissioners appointed by the Indiana Legis- 
lature. Cedar Lake and Lake C. H. had both sought the 
location ; and the actions of these commissioners pro- 
duced much dissatisfaction. Before a petition for a re- 
location could be granted, before this summer closed, the 
proprietor on the east of Cedar Lake, Dr. Calvin Lilley 
died, and his place passed into the hands of another. 

During these years, from 1834 to 1839, while there 
were the quiet of peace among us and friendliness on the 
part of the Pottawatomies, and the activity of new settler 
life, — the Black Hawk War having terminated in 1832,, 
after which nearly all of Iowa and Wisconsin was ceded 
to the United States — in Florida the Seminole War was- 
raging, commenced in '35, and not actually ended till '42. 



66 LAKE COUNTY. 

In one of these years, 1836, Arkansas was admitted 
into the Union, and in 1837 Michigan was admitted, and 
in 1837 took place the Canadian Rebellion. The short 
war with the Creek Indians took place in 1836. 

Amid such events of national interest the sqatters of 
Lake formed a community by themselves ; feeling most 
of all, probably, the great financial crash of 1837, when 
the banks suspended payment, when in two months in 
the city of New York were failures amounting to more 
than a hundred millions of dollars, the effects of which 
" were felt to the remotest j^orders of the Union." 

In that crash our two youthful cities, Liverpool and In- 
diana City, also died. 



THE POTTAWATOMIES. 67 



CHAPTER III. 

THE POTTAWATOMIES. 

Venable, m his History of the United States, a new 
and an excellent work, divides the Indians into eleven 
large families. These families "vvere divided into tribes or 
nations. The Indians known as the Miami Confederacy 
held most of the territory of Indiana. The northwestern 
part was occupied by a tribe called Pottawatomies. For 
many " thousands of moons," for centuries, so far as any 
history can record, the Red men had held undisputed 
possession of the whole Northwest. Two hundred years 
ago the French penetrated these wilds and came in con- 
tact with the scattered tribes, both as fur traders and as 
religious teachers. The Indians, therefore, of 1834 were 
not altogether those, as Sprague expresses it, " of falcon 
glance and lion bearing," but those who acknowledged 
the white man as a conqueror. 

By the treaty of 1832 the Pottawatomies had disposed 
of their lands to the Government ; but they were still on 
their hunting and trapping grounds in considerable num- 
bers,when the first settlers came in. They were friendly and 
inoffensive, yet Indians still. Their favorite resorts seem 
to have been along the streams, around: Cedar Lake, and 
at Wiggins' Point. The Calumet river was especially at- 
tractive. As to facilities for fishing, and as to abodes for 
wild fowls and fur bearing animals, this region could not 
well be surpassed. The Calumet and Deep rivers fur- 



68 LAKE COUNTY. 

nished some hundred miles of canoe navigation, abound- 
ing in fish, fowls, and fur ; the Kankakee Marsh is even 
yet a grand resort for trappers and fowlers, and in earlier 
years its islands were a favorite retreat for deer; and 
Cedar Lake and the West Creek woods were haunts that 
it would scarcely seem Indians could peacefully leave. 
Having seen Cedar Lake myself in 1837, when its waters 
and the large marsh south of it literally swarmed with 
fish, — A. Cox opened a pike that is said to have weighed 
twenty six pounds, and I have seen a quite large boat 
loaded down with fish at a single draw of the net, — when 
its shore was sentineled all round with muskrats in the 
water's brink; having seen its surface so many times since 
black with ducks and geese, or white with gulls and other 
water fowls ; I can believe almost any story abotlt the 
abundance of such game. The old and sacred Lake of 
Gennesaret, noted as it now is in this respect, amid its 
modern solitudes, can scarcely have a more abundant 
supply of fish and fowls in and on the same square miles 
of depth and surface. 

At Wiggins' Point, on the place now owned by E. Sax- 
ton, the Indians had, in 1834, a village, a dancing-floor, 
and a burial-place. From this dancing-floor sixteen 
trails diverged, leading off in every direction. These 
trails were well trodden foot-paths. In the grove are 
now a number of black-walnut trees, whether native there 
or set out by the Indians is uncertain. The dancing- 
floor was very smooth and well worn, and the well trod- 
den pathways leading to it indicated that it was a place 
of general resort. Not many rods distant, the situation 
well chosen and beautiful, was the village burying ground. 



THE POTTAWATOMIES. 69 

Iri the center of this was a pole, perhaps twenty feet in 
height, surmounted constantly by a white flag. Here 
the Indian dead of this neighborhood were decently 
buried, according to the custom of this tribe. Sometimes 
they buried in a sitting attitude, in their more retired 
cemeteries, leaving the head uncovered ; and at other 
times in a supine position. From the French they had 
received some religious ideas, and seem to have had 
some belief in a future resurrection of the body. It is 
related of one of these French-taught men, who was 
about to die near Miller's Mill, that he gave instructions 
not to have his body buried, as he expected it to be re- 
stored to life at some day, when the Indians would be 
the head race of the world. The bodies of those who 
expressed such a wish were placed in solitude upon the 
boughs of living trees. An Indian child's body in a 
basket, with bells attached, was found, suspended in a 
tree, by some of the early settlers. At the burial ground 
above mentioned a body was exhumed, probably in 1835, 
supposed to b'e the body of one of the head men of the 
tribe, about which were a blanket, a deer skin, a belt of 
wampum, and outside of the feet a fur hat ; and with the 
body were found a ri-fle and a kettle full of hickory nuts. 
Dr. Burleigh, supposed to be from Michigan City, has the 
credit of removing this body, acting on the principle 
attributed to the students of a certain medical institution, 
who are said to have adopted as their motto, De mortuis 
nil nisi bomwi, thus translated : There is nothing good 
about the dead except their bones. So, the conclusion is, 
take these when you can get them. It is said that one 

day, after the robbing of the grave, two Indians, armed 

7 



yo LAKE COUNTY. 

with rifles, came into the field where Wiggins was at work 
alone. They went to the grave, and sat down their rifles,, 
and talked. Wiggins was alarmed. He conjectured 
that avengers were near, and he was in their power. The 
Indians were evidently much displeased, but finally with- 
drew without off"ering any violence. Wiggins, who had 
claimed this part of the Indian village, allowed his break- 
ing-plow to pass over the burial ground. 

This desecration did not pass unnoticed by the Red 
men. When, in 1840, General Brady, with eleven hun- 
dred Indians from Michigan, five hundred in one division 
and six hundred in the other, passed through this coun- 
ty, some of both divisions visited these graves, and some 
of the squaws groaned, it is said, and even wept, as they 
saw the fate of their ancient cemetery. Thoroughly have 
the American Indians learned the power and the pro- 
gress of the Anglo-Saxon civilization, but not much have 
they experienced of its justice towards them and theirs. 

Leaving, for the present, the village at Wiggins' Point, 
some camping grounds near the Kankakee are worthy of 
record. On an island in the marsh, known as Red Oak 
Island, which is nearly south of the residence of Mrs. 
Pear'ce, was one of these camps or Indian gardens. 
About two hundred camped at that garden during the 
winter of 1837-38. South of Orchard Grove was 
another garden, on Big White Oak Island. Here during 
this same winter camped, perhaps, one hundred and fifty. 
These camping grounds were called gardens because the 
Indians there cultivated grapes and some corn. Just 
across the river they had quite a vineyard. It does not 
appear that they made wine, but used the grapes as de- 



THE POTTAWATOMIES. 71 

licious food. There are now in this county some small 
productive vineyards, and many orchards of excellent 
fruit ; but we should not forget that those who here first 
gave attention to the culture of the grape were our pre- 
decessors, the Pottawatomies. 

On Red Oak Island they had two stores, kept by 
Itrench traders, who had Indian wives. The names of 
these traders were Bertrand and Lavoire. At Big White 
Oak was one store, kept by Laslie, who was also French, 
with an Indian wife. Here a beautiful incident occurred 
on new year's morning, 1839. Charles Kenny and son 
had been in the marsh looking up some horses. They 
staid all night, December 31st, with Laslie. His Indian 
wife, neat and thoughtful, like any true woman, gave 
them clean blankets out of the store, treated them well, 
and would receive no pay. The morning dawned. The 
children of the encampment gathered, some thirty in 
number, and the oldest Indian, an aged, venerable man, 
gave to each of the children a silver half-dollar as a new 
year's present. As the children received the shining sil- 
ver each one returned to the old Indian a kiss. It was 
their common custom, on such mornings, for the oldest 
Indian present to bestow upon the children the gifts. 

A beautiful picture, surely, could be made'by a painter 
of this island scene ; the marsh lying round, the line of 
timber skirting the unseen river, the encampment, the 
two white strangers, the joyous children, and the vene- 
rable Pottawatomie who, long years before, had heen 
active in the chase and resolute as a warrior in his tribe,, 
bestowing the half-dollars and bending gracefully down 
to receive the gentle kisses of the children. Such a pic- 



72 LAKE COUNTY. 

ture on canvas, by an artist, would be of great value 
among our historic scenes. 

Leaving these gardens, the loaded grape vines, — some 
excellent tvild grapes are found on some of the Kanka- 
kee islands now — the corn patches, and domestic scenes 
of the Red children, we may look upon the Pottawato- 
mies in other haunts and amid other scenes. 

They had quite a camp south of the present Lowell, on 
Cedar Creek, at the same time that parties were camping 
on the gardens ; also one near what is now the Jones 
school-house. During this same winter, or the preceding 
one, some thirty Lidian lodges were in one camp north 
of Cedar Lake, on a ridge near a cranberry marsh. 
Along the Calumet there were many wigwams, and at In- 
dian Town, just east of the county line, there was a large 
village. As already mentioned, an encampment of six 
hundred was in the West Creek woods, in the winter of 
1835-36 ; and a less number camped there in the 
winter of 1836-37. This camp was on section 20, 
town 34, range 9, about two miles west of the head of 
Cedar Lake. Around this lake they hunted ; the burial 
ground at its head proved that they formerly resided 
near it. One of their canoes was left there, and was used 
by Job Worthington, staying on the claim bought by 
Hervey Ball ; but the first settlers mention no large en- 
campment on its banks. That canoe was a well made 
dug-out. It became the property of the Ball family. It 
would upset very easily, as Mrs. Mann and Loretta Cox 
ascertained one day, when it left them both in the water, 
the former losing her gold ring, but both reaching the 
shore in safety. I find no evidence that the Indians left 



THE POTTAWATOMIES. 73 

more than two canoes in the hands of the whites at Ce- 
dar Lake. 

There were probably Indians on the islands west of 
Cedar Creek, but I have not succeeded in tracing them 
there. One other camping place remains to be noticed. 
This was near the present village of Deep River. After 
the Wood family settled there the Indians had a small 
camp about a mile from the mill. They were sometimes 
seen by the white children going up and down the river 
in their canoes, but were not around there much after 
1836. This part of the river has a swift current and 
some quite high banks, and must have been attractive to 
the native fisherman. There is evidence of its having 
been a place of much resort. Near the river bank, on 
one of the intervals or bottoms, is a singular mound. 
It is shaped like a common flatiron, except that the sides 
are not curved. The height of this mound is about 
twenty feet, and it slopes regularly down on each side to 
the meadow land. The two long sides are in length 
about ten rods each. There was not a tree or shrub upon 
this in 1836. Against the sharp angle where the long 
sides met was a round opening in the ground, about 
twenty or twenty-five feet in diameter, and of unknown 
depth. Into it have been thrown the grubs from eight 
or ten acres of land ; but, like the gulf at Rome into 
which, it is said, QuintusCurtius plunged, — noble Roman 
on noble steed, — it is difficult to fill it up. As yet, after 
thirty-six years, it is still an opening in the ground. The 
object of this artificial mound and opening is not known. 

There are also, in this locality, as many as eight places 
where the Indians are supposed to have " steamed " 



74 LAKE COUNTY. 

themselves when sick. In fact, it appears to have been 
a kind of water-cure establishment. The holes in the 
rocks where the water was heated are still to be seen. 
About the use of these collected rocks, it is true, there is 
some conjecture. But it being known that Indians em- 
ployed such treatment for some diseases, it is easy to 
fancy the sick and enfeebled gathering there. Again, 
on some of the flats near by are many arrow-heads. 
Ever busy conjecture has therefore located here a savage 
battle, of which no tradition has reached us, and how 
many red warriors fell no history records. On the other 
hand, as indicating the arts of peace, a stone pestle 
found in this same locality, in the possession of Nathan 
Wood, shows careful workmanship. It is smooth, regu- 
larly rounded, and stained or curiously stamped. It 
must have been used for pounding corn in a mortar. 

On this quarter section of land, which includes the 
mill-seat, a " float " was laid in the name of a Pottawa- 
tomie, Quash-ma, after it had been claimed by John Wood ; 
and to obtain the title, after the U. S. patent was issued 
to Quash-ma, cost the claimant one thousand dollars. 
While, therefore, the Indians had at this place little in- 
tercourse with the early settlers, there are evidences that 
it was one of their homes of ancient occupancy. 

Some incidents of life at Indian-town belong to our 
history, although the village itself was in Porter county. 
Simeon Bryant selected that section for a farm, and leav- 
ing Pleasant Grove, built his cabin near the village. The 
Indians at first were not well pleased with the idea of a 
white neighbor ; but the resolute squatter treated them 
kindly, would gather up land tortoises and take to their 



THE POTTAWATOMIES. 75 

■wigwams, for which, when he threw them on the ground, 
the women and children would eagerly scramble ; and 
after he had fenced around some of their cornfields he 
still allowed them to cultivate the land. This kindness 
and consideration secured their regard. A father and 
son from La Porte county were stopping with this Bryant 
family while improving their claims, and the daughter 
and sister, a girl of eighteen or twenty, came out to assist 
in the housekeeping. She was necessarily brought in 
contact with the villagers. Among these were two young 
Indians about her own age, sons of a head man, who 
were quite inclined to annoy the white girl and play 
pranks. They would lurk around and watch her motions, 
and sometimes when she would enter the little outdoor 
meat-house, would fasten her in. One day, when she 
was coming out with a pail of buttermilk, one of these 
young Pottawatomies stood in the doorway, with his arms 
stretched across, and refused to allow her to pass out. 
Reasoning and entreaty were unavailing, and as a last 
resort she took up her pail and, to the great surprise of 
the impolite young savage, dashed the buttermilk all over 
him. He then beat a retreat, and left her mistress of the 
field, with only the loss of one bucket of milk. Some- 
time afterward an errand took her among the wigwams, 
and at a time, it appeared, when the occupants had ob- 
tained some "fire-water." Raising the curtain of their 
doorway, according to custom, to make an inquiry, the 
young savages sprang up and threatened her with their 
tomahawks. She stood and laughed at them, and at 
length, ashamed perhaps to injure the bold, defenceless 
girl, they let her pass on and accomplish her errand. 



76 LAKE COUNTY. 

This she succeeded in doing, and then returned in safety 
to the Bryant cabin, glad to have escaped the peril 
through which she had passed. The heroine of these 
incidents soon afterward married, and became an inhab- 
itant of Lake, having now several grown up daughters, 
and being the head of one of our well known and highly 
respected families. 

A still greater peril was experienced by Mrs. Saxton, 
who became a resident on the Wiggins place. Her hus- 
band was away, and she was at home with small chil- 
dren. The evening was cold and stormy, and. as it ad- 
vanced, an Indian called at the door requesting shelter. 
At first his request was refused, but one of the children 
pleaded for him ; the storm was pelting without, and he 
was admitted. He was a young man, and unfortunately 
had with him a bottle of whisky. He wanted some corn 
bread. It was made, but did not suit him. He drank 
whisky and was cross. An intoxicated man, whether 
white or red, is an unpleasant guest. A second trial in 
the bread line Avas made, using only meal, and salt, and 
water, which succeeded better. The Indian talked some, 
sat by the fire, drank. He went to the door and looked 
out. Something to this effect he muttered, " Pottawat- 
omies lived all round here; white man drove them away. 
Ugh I" Then he went back to the fire. A little child 
was lying in the cradle, and he threatened its life. The 
alarmed mother and children could offer little effectual 
resistance. But the Indian delayed to strike the fatal 
blow. At length he slept. Then the startled mother 
poured out what was left in the bottle, and waited for 
the morning. The savage and drunken guest awoke, ex- 



THE POTTAWATOMIES. 77 

amined his bottle, and finding it empty, said, " Bad She- 
mokiman woman ! Drink up all of Indian's whisky." 
He then went off to Miller's Mill, replenished his bot- 
tle and returned. Sometime in the day Dr. Palmer came 
along and succeeded in relieving this family of their 
troublesome guest. The next night this Indian's father 
came ; apologized as best he could ; said that was bad 
Indian and should trouble them no more. 

One pleasant Cedar Lake incident may be here re- 
corded. A party of nine, eight men and one squaw, 
called one morning at the residence of H. Ball, and de- 
sired breakfast. It was soon prepared for them, and all 
took places at the table and ate heartily. At first only 
the men took seats for eating, but their entertainer 
insisted that the squaw also should sit down with them. 
This caused among the Indians no little merriment. 
They had brought with them considerable many pack- 
ages of fur, and as they passed out each one took two 
muskrat skins and laid them down as the pay for his 
breakfast. They then went into a little store on the 
place and traded out quite a quantity of fur. After 
some hours trading they quietly departed. 

The following has been kindly prepared for this re- 
cord by an early settler of Pleasant Grove. It contains 
some recollections of his boyhood : 

"At the time referred to, as late perhaps as 1840, 
bands of Indians would frequently come into the settle- 
ments, erect their tents, and remain as long as the hunt- 
ing was good. They would then go to some other hunt- 
ing ground and remain for a time. These companies 
consisted frequently of from twenty to fifty, including. 



78 LAKE COUNTY. 

men, women, and children ; dogs and Indian ponies not 
included. The Indians were generally peaceful and it is 
not remembered that they committed any acts of dep- 
redation, when they were properly treated, during the 
time they remained in that section of the country. 
They visited Wayne Bryant and family often ; were said 
to be uniformly kind, were anxious to exchange 
such commodities as they had for provisions. They in- 
quired the name of Mr. Bryant, and on being told that 
his name was 'Wayne ' they exhibited surprise and indi- 
cations of fear, and by their language and deportment 
Mr. Bryant was led to believe that they had some knowl- 
edge of the manner in which some of their race had been 
treated by Mad Anthony Wayne of historic reputation. 
"An instance may be given of the result of an attempt 
to trifle with the Indians. Two of the early settlers con- 
cluded to amuse themselves with them, and one evening 
they went to their camp near where Lowell now stands 
and proposed to sell them a gallon of whisky. The In- 
dians said they would trade fur, and brought out a 
respectable quantity which they offered for the gallon of 
whisky. The men said, ' It is not enough.' So the In- 
dians brought more fur, and, on being refused, continued 
to pile up the fur, and gathered around the men, until 
they were told that they were only joking, and they had 
no whisky. But the Indians declared they would have 
it, and proceeded to enforce their demand, when the 
whites broke and ran, being closely followed by the Indi- 
ans in a race, until the whites took shelter in their own 
log cabin, an Indian following one of the men into his 
door-yard." 



THE POTTAWATOMIES. 79 

The Indians evidently had not learned the ways of 
civilized grain dealers " on 'Change, "to be able to buy and 
sell what one did not possess. 

It is a pity to spoil a good story, but justice requires 
that another version of this occurrence should be record- 
ed. I have conversed with one of the actors in this 
scene and he relates that, on going to the Indian camp 
at a certain time, he found them quite merry and ani- 
mated, and he remarked, " I guess you have had some 
whisky." They eagerly caught up the word whisky and 
offered to give fur, professing to understand that he had 
some whisky for sale. In vain he explained to them that 
he had none, but supposed they had been drinking some. 
They piled up the fur and crowded around. As his only 
alternative he did run, and ran well; but a swift-footed 
savage came up abreast of him in the race, although he 
had a pathway and the Indian was in deep snow, and 
presented his knife to stop his flight. The white man 
seized the Indian by the arm, threw him into the 
snow, and reached in safety the shelter of a cabin. 
He probably concluded that it was not very prudent even 
to name whisky in the presence of the Indians. The 
French traders on the gardens did not sell whisky to the 
Indians, but some few settlers and other traders had the 
name of doing it. 

As still further illustrative of the mode of living and 
customs of these French-taught Pottawatomies, let us 
look again upon the village and white family at Indian 
Town. 

A head man resides there called a chief. J. W, Din- 
widdie, his father, and sister, are staying with the Bryant 



80 LAKE COUNTY. 

family until their own claim is ready for occupancy. 
The chief keeps a cow, and so do the whites. The 
chief's wife would bring up their cow, and also would 
drive along sometimes the other cow, saying as she passed 
the settler's cabin, " Here, John, I have brought up Mar- 
garet's cow." This squaw had a quite fair complexion ; 
was between thirty and forty years of age, in appearance ; 
could talk some English, and was very kind to the 
whites. The chief's name was called Shaw-no-quak. 
Here also was a dancing-floor. The Indians would form 
in a line for a dance according to age, the oldest always 
first, the little children last. They danced in lines back 
and forth. The old chief, a young chief, and an old In- 
dian sat together and furnished the music. This was 
made by shaking corn in a gourd. The song repeated 
over and over the name of their chief. After the dance 
they feasted on venison soup, with green corn, made in 
iron kettles, served in wooden trenchers wuth wooden 
ladles. The white neighbors present at one of these en- 
tertainments were invited to partake. This the women 
declined doing, which the chief did not like. And thus 
he expressed his displeasure : " No good Shemokiman ! 
no good ! no eat ! no good Shemokiman woman !" Then 
he would pat S. Bryant and say, " Good Shemokiman ! 
Good Shemokiman ! Eat with Indian !" 

This Indian Town belongs to Porter county ; but the 
Dinwiddie family make this history our own, and it gives 
us a more full view of Pottawatomie life. 

The camping-ground at Wiggins' Point was called 
McGwinn's Village, being named after one of their head 
men. 



THE POTTAWATOMIES. 8l 

The Indians here, on the gardens, and elsewhere, lived 
in lodges or wigwams. These were made of poles driven 
into the ground, the tops converging, and around the 
circle formed by the poles was wound a species of mat- 
ting made of flags or rushes. This woven flag resembled 
a variety of green window shades seen in some of our 
stores and houses. The Indian men wore a calico shirt, 
leggins, moccasins, and a blanket. The squaws wore a 
broadcloth skirt and blanket. "They "toted" or 
"packed " burdens. The Indians along the marsh kept 
a good many ponies. These they loaded heavily with 
furs and tent- matting when migrating. They also used 
canoes for migrating up and down the Kankakee. The 
village Indians lost some eighty ponies one winter for 
want of sufficient food. Those at Orchard Grove win- 
tered very well. During the winter the men were busy 
trapping. Three Indians caught, in one season, thirteen 
hundred raccoons. They sold the skins for one dollar 
and a quarter each, thus making on raccoon fur alone 
$1625. Other fur was very abundant and brought a 
high price in market. They trapped economically until 
they were about to leave forever the htinting-grounds of 
their forefathers. They then seemed to care little for 
the fur interests of those who had purchased -their 
lands, and were destroying as well as trapping, when some 
of the settlers interfered. 

One of these was H. Sanger. He, in company with 
some others, went on to the marsh to stay the destruc- 
tion it was said was there going on. He went in advance 
of the others after reaching the trapping ground, and told 
the Indians they must cease to destroy the homes of the 



82 LAKE COUNTY, 

fur-bearers. He is himself a tall, and was then an athletic 
man, and said he, " Look yonder. Don't you see my 
men ?" 

They did see men coming, and were alarmed, and men- 
tioned toothers the threatening aspect of the "tall She- 
mokiman." One Indian burial-place has been mentioned, 
the one at the McGwinn village. This contained about 
one hundred graves. Another has also been referred to 
at the head of Cedar Lake. This one has not been 
specially disturbed. At Big White Oak Island was a 
third. Here were a good many graves ; and among them 
six or seven with crosses. There were probably others 
over which the plowshare has passed and no memorial of 
them remains. At Crown Point was a small garden, 
and on the height Indians seem to have camped, but no 
burial-place is known to have been found here. It has 
been claimed that sick Indians were brought here to be 
restored to health. As there were no springs of water 
close by, and no unfailing stream, it would not have been 
desirable for a permanent cajnping place. A few toma- 
hawks have been found near the present town. 

Besides the mound already mentioned, there is one 
quite large and circular on the west side of Cedar Lake ; 
growing upon it were, thirty years ago, some large oak 
trees ; one at the south end of the lake also circular ; one 
a short distance north of Lowell ; and some other evi- 
dences of human existence. Whether the mounds were 
the work of the Pottawatomies, or of those Old Mound 
Builders who long ago disappeared, is quite uncertain. 
Some chiefs have been mentioned. The principal chief 
of all the Pottawatomies, becoming such by adoption in 



THE POTTAWATOMIES. 83. 

1825, was Alexander Robinson, a man part Indian, part 
French, and part English, who died but a few months 
ago at his home on the Des Plaines, at the supposed age 
of one hundred and four years. As early as 1809, hav- 
ing become connected with Joe Baies, the founder of 
Baileytown, in the fur trade in the service of John Jacob 
Astor, he was engaged in taking corn around the head of 
Lake Michigan. This corn was raised by Pottawatomies 
and brought to that young trading post, now Chicago, 
"in bark woven sacks on the backs of ponies." In Au- 
gust, 1 81 2, as he was on a canoe voyage to Chicago to 
buy corn, friendly Miamis hailed him from the shore with 
the warning ''''not to go to Chicago, as it would storm to- 
morrotv." He therefore left his canoe at the mouth of 
the Big Calumet, and passed in safety through the Au- 
gust Massacre. The next winter he was living in Indian 
style as a hunter on the Calumet. In 1829 he took a 
three-quarter Indian wife from the Calumet. His head- 
quarters were Chicago, and he made fur-trading journeys 
extending, it is said, as far as the Wabash. 

This is the man whom our Pottawatomies, as well as 
others, recognized as head Chief, who during the Black 
Hawk War "convened one of the last Indian councils 
ever held in Chicago." In 1836 the great body of this 
tribe, then five thousand strong, met for the last time in 
Chicago, — one of our citizens, J. Hurlburt, was in Chicago 
at that time, and he says that there were then gathered 
ten thousand Indians, — " received their presents and as- 
surance of the distinguished esteem of the Great White 
Father," and then, led by this chief, called Chee-chee- 
bing-way, or Blinking Eyes, left these hunting grounds 



84 LAKE COUNTY. 

for their Kansas reserve. But, according to the reliable 
authorities for the statements in this chapter, many still 
lingered within the bounds of our county. Few of these, 
if any, remained after 1839. To us the Pottawatomies 
have left many of their bones in their known and unknown 
b\irial-places, the name of one of our rivers, and their 
own perishing naemorials and remembrances as treasured 
up by those with whom they had intercourse. Some of us 
who are now living enjoyed for a few years their rich hunt- 
ing grounds and trapping region ; but the deer that re- 
mained around their wigwams will not tarry long around 
the White man's home, and the fur-bearing animals de- 
crease as civilization advances ; and soon there will be 
only now and then a bone, an arrow head, a tomahawk, 
or a mound, to bear witness to the existence of Aborigi- 
nes. Already it is said that the tribe who once occupied 
this soil has dwindled to less than half its numbers in 1836, 
and like the other tribes of North American Indians, a 
strange and an injured people, it is passing into western 
wilds, crowded on by the whites, and rapidly becoming 
extinct. It is surely but just that the citizens of Lake 
County should treasure up and transmit to posterity 
among their own records some memories and incidents of 
the once powerful Pottawatomies. 



GROWTH. 1840 1849. 85 



CHATER IV. 

GROWTH. 1840 1849. 

Squatter sovereignty ceased after the land sale of the 
last year. Many of the settlers were now the legal own- 
ers of the soil, holding their patents from the United 
States. Others were hoping to become such owners. 

The leading event of this year, 1840, which opened a 
new career and a hopeful prospect before the newly made 
lords of the soil, was the relocation of the county seat. 
An act was passed by the State Legislature in the winter 
of 1839-40, ordering such relocation. The commis- 
sioners appointed were, Jesse Tomlinson and Edward 
Moore of Marion county, Henry Barclay of Pulaski, 
Joshua Lindsey of White, and Daniel Doale of Carroll 
county. 

Benjamin McCarty, who, with his brother-in-law, had 
laid out the town of Valparaiso, which became the 
county seat of Porter county, was desirous of also giving 
a county seat to Lake. He had purchased the Lilley 
place, on the northeast side of Cedar Lake, had laid out 
a town called West Point, and was now a competitor with 
Solon Robinson for the honor and privilege of the loca- 
tion. The commissioners came into Lake in June. 
Offers of comparatively large donations were made by 
the friends of each locality. The commissioners rode 
around, looked over the ground, canvassed the claims 
and offers of the competitors, and finally selected Lake 
Court House as the proper place for the county seat. 
7 



86 LAKE COUNTY, 

Town Lots, in number seventy-five, were soon afterwards 
laid out upon sixty acres of land in Section 8, twenty 
acres belonging to Judge Clark and forty to Solon Rob- 
inson. 

A large public square was laid out and donated, upon 
which no buildings are ever to be erected, and an acre of 
ground was set apart exclusively for a court house and 
public offices. Another acre was given for school pur- 
poses. If I understand the old record correctly, the two 
proprietors also donated one-half of the lots laid out, 
and Judge Clark gave, in addition, thirty-five acres adjoin- 
ing on the east ; Solon Robinson also gave twenty acres 
on the west. Also Russel Eddy gave ten acres and 
J. W, Holton fifteen acres. Other donations were also 
made in money and labor. These donations, of course, 
went to the public or the county ; and George Earle of 
Liverpool was appointed County Agent. He and the 
two proprietors met to name the new town. 

" I have a name to propose," said the County Agent. 

" So have I," said Solon Robinson. 

" What is your name ? " 

" Crown Pointy 

"And that also is mine." 

So, although Judge Clark did not at first quite fancy the 
name, it was soon adopted, having been suggested, per- 
haps, as in contrast with the West Point at Cedar Lake, 
and containing, it may be, a concealed allusion to Solon 
Robinson's well known title of Squatter-kiiig! As such, 
his place should have the crown. Thus, although cer- 
tainly named after the Crown Point in New York, wheth- 
er named in honor of it is not so certain. The Agent 



ViROWTH, 1840-1849, S7 

and the proprietors sold the first lots at auction Nov. 19th, 
1840. The prices ranged from $11.00 to $127.50 a lot, 
on two, three, and four years credit, the first year with- 
out interest. 

The United States census, taken this year by Lewis 
Warriner, showed the population of the county to be 1468. 

During this summer occurred '; the great wheat blight." 
The whole crop, it was said, was entirely lost. Not a 
favorable beginning for growth. 

This summer also, S. Robinson and Dr. Palmer ob- 
tained from the East some Berkshire pigs, the first in the 
county. E. S. McCarty, at Cedar Lake, put up and burnt 
the first kiln of brick. 

Political excitement was running quite high this sum- 
mer, as a presidential election was coming on. Says 
Lossing, " The contest was very exciting, and was char- 
acterized by demoralizing proceedings hitherto unknown 
in the United States." It was the " log cabin " and 
" hard cider " campaign. A large political gathering 
took place at the Tippecanoe battle-ground. To this 
S. Robinson, Leonard Cutler, and some other zealous 
Whigs of that day, went down, acro^ the country, with, 
I think, a four horse team and flying colors. They had 
the credit of going and returning without becoming de- 
moralized. They at least claimed that credit. The 
majority of our citizens of that day were Democrats and 
in favor of Martin Van Buren. 

In the spring of 1843, the scarlet fever, in a very malig- 
nant form, visited Crown Point. In six weeks there 
were eight deaths. Until this time, from 1834 to 1843, 
the inhabitants here had felt no necessity for selecting a 



S8 LAKE COUNTY. 

public burial ground. In March the old cemetery was 
opened. Eight burials soon took place. Solon Robin- 
son makes this record : "And while our feelings were yet 
tender we promised that the ground should be fenced 
and improved. Perhaps our children, when they lay us 
there, will make the same promise and keep it as well." 
Not quite correct as a prediction, but too true in its 
spirit. None fenced, none improved that spot. A second 
location was selected for burial purposes. That proved 
unsatisfactory, and the " children " propose to transfer 
the remains of their dead to a third location, the Crown 
Point New Cemetery, already becoming a village of the 
dead. I have no record to make in this volume in 
regard to my fellow-citizens of Lake that is to me so 
saddening as that which I place here, which is, that 
many of them are so negligent in respect to protecting 
and keeping sacred the resting-places once set apart for 
the repose of the dead. I return to the events of the 
year. 

A few sheep had been kept in the county for some 
years, but tnis season considerable numbers were brought 
in from Ohio, and this commenced to be quite a wool- 
growing region. The wheat crop of this year was poor. 
In November the sale of " Canal Lands" lying in this 
county took place at Delphi. 

Two church buildings were erected, the Methodist 
Church at West Creek, near the Torrey bridge, and the 
Catholic chapel on Prairie West. Rev. N. Warriner, the 
resident Baptist pastor, moved to Illinois, and Rev. M. 
Allman, a local preacher of the Methodist Episcopal 
church, settled, during the summer, in Crown Point. 



GROWTH. 1840 — 1849. S9 

The Presbyterian churcH at Crown Point was this year 
organized. Elias Bryant and Cyrus M. Mason were 
elected elders, Rev. Mr. Brown of Valparaiso the acting 
pastor. 

From a diary the following extracts are taken : " Sep- 
tember i6th. This morning Mr. Sherman was found 
dead, killed by a fall from a wagon." Also, same day, 
" James Farwell died." 

" 22nd. To-day have attended the funeral of Mr. 
Adonijah Taylor, who died yesterday." 

July 8th is recorded. " Camp meeting commenced." 

This meeting was doubtless held on Cedar Point, 
where, in a beautiful spot on the east side of Cedar Lake, 
a commodious camp-ground had been arranged. Inter- 
esting meetings were here held for a few seasons ; and 
then such meetings, except among the German Metho- 
dists west of Cedar Lake, ceased to be, in our borders. 

Of the events of 1844 I find little to record on this 
page. The v/heat crop was much injured by rust, many 
fields were not "worth cutting." The average price of 
wheat for a period of years, now, did not exceed sixty 
cents a bushel. The average distance for hauling it was 
not less than forty miles, the market place being Chica- 
go. The price of other productions was proportionately 
low. It is, therefore, no wonder that many settlers, who 
had borrowed money at the land sale at exorbitant 
rates of interest, failed to make payments, and that so 
many acres of Lake county lands went into the hands of 
small capitalists at La Porte. The wonder rather is, that 
during this period the county improved at all. Many 
settlers, who had toiled resolutely on their claims, who. 



90 LAKE COUNTY. 

had stood firmly with their fellow-squatters in asserting a 
preemption right, feeling how fully the speculators' 
grasp was up^>n them, abandoned their places and sought 
other homes in the more distant West. There is evidence 
from the assessment records, and from the lists of grand 
and petit jurors, and from the records of plaintiffs and 
defendants in the circuit court, that one half or more of 
the early settlers passed out of the county during the 
decade which is included in this chapter. » 

In the summer of 1845 the wheat crop was very good, 
the corn crop was good ; large quantities of butter were 
now made for sale, and considerable cheese. The grist 
mill of Wilson & Saunders, on Deep River, was this year 
put in operation, and a large mill was erected outside of 
the county, at Momence. 

Two church buildings were commenced at Crown 
Point, the old Methodist church and the present Presby- 
terian, neither one being complete until the following 
year. 

On the fourth of May of this year was opened the Ce- 
dar Lake Sunday School, a school held continuously for 
a number of years, back to which may he traced many 
influences for good, connected with which was the first 
mission school of the county, held at Mrs. Farwell's over 
West Creek, and the associations around which scat- 
tered groups of the dead and the living will never forget. 

Another diary record: July 25th, "Lewis F. Warri- 
riner died to-day, at 6.00 p. m., at Dr. Wood's, after an 
illness of about twelve days." He was a son of Lewis 
Warriner, who, as representative of the county at Indi- 
anapolis, was so fully and favorably known, and was one 



GROWTH. 91 

of the noblest young men in the community or the coun- 
ty. His death was, by those who knew him, deeply de- 
plored. Sometime before the same neighborhood had 
lost a very promising young man, Franklin Edgerton ; 
and near where the remains of these are resting was 
buried, May 19th, 1839, the body of a youth, George 
Taylor ; but so sadly has that little mound on the east 
side of Cedar Lake been neglected that none can now 
point out these graves. The first settlers on that east 
side found enclosures or pens of logs marking the Pot- 
tawatomie graves in the sand ridge above the northeast- 
ern beach. To those some of their boys set fire, and 
now Indian's burial-place and White man's burial-place 
there are about alike neglected and forgotten. 

In the spring of 1846 Rev. Wm. Townley settled at 
Crown Point as the first resident pastor of the Presbyte- 
rian Church. 

The summer of 1846 was one of uncommon calamities. 
It was very dry and very hot. Sickness was almost uni- 
versal. There were few to relieve the wants of the sick 
or to administer medicine. Fields of grain wasted, uncut 
or unstacked. Much of the wheat raised was badly shrunk; 
and half the potato crop was destroyed by a disease call- 
ed the rot. The fall that followed was very favorable for 
cutting wild grass, and the succeeding winter was mild, 
so that cattle did not suffer for want of food. Thus often 
are calamities followed by mercies. The wind is tem- 
pered to the shorn lamb. 

In 1847 there were in the county seven post-offices. A 
mail carried twice a week from LaPorte to Joliet supplied 
Crown Point office. A mail was carried once a week from 



9? LAKE COUNTY. 

West Creek to Valparaiso and from West Creek to City 
West. 

In connection with the mail from LaPorte to Joliet 
occurred the incident of Solon Robinson's killing the 
bear. The mail carrier then was John Church, of Prairie 
West. He came in with the mail one day and report 
ed that a black bear was on the Soc Trail in advance 
of himself, and that he had, with his horse, actually 
driven him into the suburbs of the village. Solon Rob- 
inson, the post master, in the words of my informant, 
"hooted at it." Like the Indian on first hearing about 
railroads and telegraphs, he " poohed " it. Nevertheless, 
soon after — distributing that mail was not a lengthy task 
— he took up his trusty rifle and went out. Sure enough, 
he soon encountered bruin, fired away at him, and soon 
the villagers learned of the death of their new visitant, 
the tired black bear. 

In this same year, of seven post offices, there were five 
saw mills in operation, Earle's, Dustin's, and Woods, on 
Deep River ; McCarty's on Cedar Creek, and Foley's 
where it is now. There were three of earlier date, then 
dilapidated: Miller's, Dustin's old one, and Walton's, on 
Turkey Creek. Two others had been commenced, one 
on Plum, the other on Cedar Creek. 

There were then two grist mills. Wood's, which for a 
time supplied both Lake and Porter counties, and Wilson 
and Saunders'. George Earle was then erecting the third, 
the mill at Hobart. There were in the county about fifty 
frame houses ; five church buildings, four of which have 
been mentioned, and the fifth a Methodist church at 
Hickory Point ; two brick dwelling-houses, the first one 



GROWTH. 1840 — 1849. 93 

erected in 1844; and four or five stores. Two of these 
were at Crown Point, kept by H. S. Pelton and Wm. 
Alton ; one at Pleasant Grove, one at Wood's mill, one at 
St. Johns. There were five resident local Methodist 
preachers, one circuit preacher, and one Presbyterian 
minister. A Catholic missionary visited the church on 
Prairie West. There were two attorneys, six or seven 
physicians, and fifteen justices of the peace. 

There were two, only, open drinking shops in our bor- 
ders. Crown Point then contained about thirty families, 
two churches, two stores, one hotel, one small school- 
house, four physicians, three ministers, the two lawyers, 
of course, and several mechanics. Its population was 
about one hundred and fifty. There was then no other 
place that could well be called a village. In this the log 
cabins were still standing. I have given the first county 
officers, those of 1837. 

The officers ten years afterwards, or in 1847, were the 
following : 

Henry V/ells, Sheriff; H. D. Palmer, Associate Judge; 
Hervey Ball, Probate Judge; D. K. Pettibone, Clerk; 
Joseph Jackson, Auditor; Major Allman, Recorder ; Wm. 
C. Farrington, Treasurer; Alex. McDonald, Assessor; S. 
T. Green, H. S. Pelton, and Robert Wilkinson, Commis- 
sioners. 

I have passed over, in the order of events, the part 
taken by our citizens in the Mexican War, and insert it 
here, as a fitting close for this chapter. 

This war, it may be remembered, was declared May 
nth, 1846, and the President was authorized to raise fifty 
thousand volunteers. After the victories of the Rio 

8 



94 LAKE COUNTY. 

Grande, " everywhere the young men of America were 
now ready," says Mrs. Willard, to push for the " Halls of 
the Montezumas." 

The military spirit of Capt. Joseph P. Smith was at 
once aroused. The drum and the fife were heard in 
Crown Point. Volunteers were soon enlisted, and in four 
counties a company was raised. Some twenty-five or 
thirty of these were from Lake. The Independent Mili- 
tary Company, which had been organized at Crown Point 
in 1840-41, under Capt. Smith, which had done military 
duty on celebration days and acted on other occasions, 
furnished most of these volunteers. 

Their chief officer, Joseph P. Smith, an excellent man 
of business, had been captain of the Monroe Blues, called, 
in their day, one of the finest companies in the city of 
New York. Before the volunteers left, one of the com- 
pany, Cornelius Cook, died suddenly at Crown Point, in 
1846, and was buried with military honors. The gather- 
ing of people was very large, as this was the first military 
funeral in the county. In 1847 these volunteers joined 
the army in Mexico. They were not in battle. They 
served as guards. They were six months at Monterey. 
They returned in the fall of 1848, "all there were left of 
them." Forty-seven out of the one company died by 
sickness on the fatal route and amid the burning heats. 
One who experienced the sufferings of that march and 
the exposures of that guard duty, our well-known towns- 
man, Capt. Alfred Fry, returned to meet the yet sterner 
conflict of the War of the Rebellion, and to endure and 
survive the suffering of the Libby prison. He knows 
what it means to sustain the honor of his country's flag. 



GROWTH. 95 

Peace had again spread over a rapidly growing coun- 
try. The telegraph had been invented, and a few thou- 
sand miles of railroad, mostly in Ohio, had been built 
since 1840. 1849 came and closed over Lake county, 
slowly and surely growing, her people cultivating the arts 
of peace, but waiting, as it were, for a new impulse and 
new facilities to rouse up her sons and to develop more 
rapidly her resources. 



96 LAKE COUNTY. 

CHAPTER V. 

NEW GROWTH. 1850 1859. 

As this decade opened, and the year advanced which 
closed the first half of the Nineteenth Century, a new 
element of growth, of expansion, and of progress was 
found among the northern sand hills of Lake. This was 
the Michigan Central Railroad track, making its way from 
Detroit, having crossed the peninsula of Michigan, over 
marsh and sand bank and morass ; at length leaving the 
land and laid on piles in the edge of Lake Michigan ; 
and entering at last the young, growing city, known by 
the Indian name Chicago. This railroad was completed 
in 1850. 

A station was located on Deep River, south of the 
Calumet, and named Lake; the steam whistle was heard 
for the first time where had been the scream of the eagle 
and the sharp notes of water fowl ; and the people of the 
county soon ascertained that they were in close connec- 
tion, by rail and wire communication, with the Atlantic 
seaboard. 

It was the beginning of a new era, the era of western 
railroads. One track had entered Chicago, if it was by 
water; and others were soon to follow. Up to this time 
every bushel of grain, every pound of butter, and cheese, 
and pork, all the produce of every kind not consumed at 
home, must reach the Chicago market by the slow trans- 
portation of ox and horse teams, and along a road, if road 
it should be called, where the water would often be, upon 



NEW GROWTH. 97 

the Blue Island Sag, two or three feet in depth, and where 
it was needful sometimes to "double teams " when each 
team consisted of two or three yoke of stout oxen. And 
along the same road and by the same method of convey- 
ance was until then transported every foot of lumber, and 
pound of nails, and every article of merchandise pur- 
chased in the city. 

What profitable business farming was in those days may 
be readily learned by a little calculation. At the least, 
three days' time would be required for man and team, 
worth three dollars a day, or nine dollars. Two nights' 
expenses, on the road, worth or costing some two dollars. 
A single team might take thirty bushels of wheat. This 
would bring fifteen dollars; thus leaving four dollars to 
pay for the raising. Here is an actual and not a supposed 
case: J. W. Dinwiddie, a better calculator and man- 
ager than whom few farmers that knew him would claim 
to be, undertook farming before the days of steam power 
in the West. He hauled wheat to Chicago, paid the 
expenses, and had when he reached home, five dollars 
less than when he started for the market. He gave up 
farming, sold out, and went to Illinois to work upon the 
canal. But in 1852 he was again to be found among the 
farmers of the county, and the operations he conducted 
afterwards until the time of his death, show that a new 
era, even in farming, had commenced. 

After the opening of business at Lake Station, a daily 
hack line was started, running between Crown Point and 
Lake Station, and passing through Centerville. This 
soon carried a daily mail. By means of this- first rail- 
road some facilities were afforded for sending off produce 



98 LAKE COUNTY. 

and bringing in merchandise. A second was soon after 
constructed — the Michigan Southern. 

The Joliet Cut Off was built in 1854, giving us the 
stations of Ross and Dyer. The latter at once became 
the most important shipping point in our bounds. 

The Fort Wayne railroad was completed in 1858. 
Hobart began to grow, and Crown Point was within 
twelve miles of a station, which then became its shipping 
point. A hack line was established and continued for a 
short time between Ross and Crown Point; but Hobart 
remained until 1865 the principal railroad station for the 
county seat and for the inhabitants of the eastern part 
of the county. Dyer continued to be an excellent ship- 
ping point for produce, and for lumber, and goods, until 
the same period ; and up to the present time ships 
largely for the inhabitants of St. Johns and Hanover 
Townships. 

Increased facilities for transportation enabled the 
farming community to realize more for their produce and 
obtain building materials more easily than in former 
years, and improved buildings, and fences, and barns, 
and stables, were the result. 

The population of the county during these years con- 
tinually increased. 

In 1850 two brothers, Thomas and William Fisher, be- 
coming residents, started, at South East Grove, a broom 
factory. This was about the commencement of indus- 
trial interests aside from farming. Something in the 
wagon making business had previously been done at the 
shop of Major Farwell, in Crown Point. At this broom 
factory one thousand a week were sometimes made, or 



NEW GROWTH. 99 

fifty thousand a year during the more busy years. The 
proprietors both raised and bought the broom corn 
brush which they worked up. In harvest time they 
sometimes had as many as thirty-two hands at dinner. 
The brooms sold in Chicago at seventy-five cents a 
dozen. Work was carried on in the Grove till 1859, 
when they removed the factory on to the farm now 
known as the Hews place. Here in one year one hun- 
dred and eight acres of broom corn were raised, and 
then worked up into brooms. This, if not a large busi- 
ness for the East, was something in the new West. 

In 1852 Joseph Hack bought out the shop of Major 
Farwell and commenced, with blacksmithing and wagon- 
making, which has now become quite an important item 
in our productive mechanical toil. 

In 1850 or '51, James Hunt came into the county from 
La Porte; in 1852 Marshall M. Barber, and in 1853 Peter 
Burhans and Samuel Burhans. These all settled near 
together, south and a little west of Lowell, near the 
marsh, and being intelligent and enterprising men, were 
a great addition to the farming interests in that neigh- 
borhood. 

In 1855 the "New Hampshire Settlement" on Lake 
Prairie, was commenced. Ten families, natives of New 
England, soon established themselves south of the center 
of that beautiful prairie, bringing their Eastern habits 
with them, organizing, in 1856, an Independent Presbyte- 
rian Church, erecting a school-house and sustaining an 
excellent school, and making that prairie wild, which for 
long years had blossomed abundantly, bring forth the rich' 
fruits of a Christian civilization. The labors of the first 



lOO LAKE COUNTY. 

spiritual husbandman among them, Rev. H. Wason, be- 
coming pastor in 1857, were richly rewarded by a spirit- 
ual growth and increase ; and a new Sabbath School and 
church-going center was recognized as having sprung 
vigorously up. Most of the early improvements con- 
nected with the founding and growth of Lowell belong 
to these ten years. 

M. A. Halsted, one of the most enterprising men among 
all our citizens, laid out the town of Lowell, built a saw 
mill, a grist mill, and with some help from others, a. brick 
meeting house ; and was to a great extent the center of 
all the business life that during these years was growing 
at that place. The town plat, as recorded, bears date 
May 13, 1853, and bears the signature Melvin A. Halsted. 
A brick school-house was soon erected, in which for a 
time religious meetings were held ; and the old religious 
centers of Pleasant Grove and West Creek were, as to 
their interests, soon transferred to Lowell, where a Bap- 
tist, a Methodist, and a Christian church, began to hold 
regular meetings. 

A tavern, stores, and various shops came along in their 
natural order, as the supply for a demand created ; and 
a steady town growth commenced. While the northern 
villages were built up by railroads, Lowell, the only busi- 
ness center in the southern townships, grew up by means 
of its water power and its men. Among these were Wm. 
Sigler, a son of an old settler, who engaged in merchan- 
dising, and carried on a large trade, and J. Thorn. The 
two brothers, Henry and Harvey Austin, came during this 
period, settling on a farm just out of Lowell, and added 
a new force in intelligence, and social, business, and moral 



NEW GROWTH. lOT 

enterprise, to those who were laying the foundation of 
business and social life. One of them was for many 
years the energetic and successful superintendent of the 
Lowell Union Sabbath School. The other returned, after 
a short residence here, to the State of Michigan. South 
and West of these two brothers, and near Henry and 
William Belshaw, and not far from the two Burhans fam- 
ilies, Amos Brannon and James Brannon purchased Canal 
Lands and began farming ; the date of entry of the former 
being 1847, of the latter 185 1. These, like the others 
just named, proved to be solid, prosperous, reliable men, 
of sterling worth in a community. 

In Hobart Township a number of new families found 
homes ; but the growth of the village of Hobart, for some 
years after the opening of the Fort Wayne Road, was 
slow. It seemed to lack that class of men who finally 
came in and helped to make it what it now is. 

In North Township Joseph Hess settled in 1850, and 
built up the village of Hessville, of which he is the prin- 
cipal man and the money maker. 

In 1856 A. N. Hart, from Philadelphia, entering a large 
amount of swamp land, made his home at Dyer. In the 
second city of the Union he had been a book publisher 
and business man, and bringing with him capital and 
business talent, he became to the interests at Dyer a great 
acquisition. To his capital and energy that place owes 
no little of its celebrity and growth. 

Over West Creek the Klaas family settled in 1850, the 

pioneer of a number of German families. In 1856 H. C. 

Beckman, a thorough business man, a successful merchant, 

late county commissioner, settled in Hanover. The Krin- 

9 



102 LAKE COUNTY. 

bill's, George and Andrew, with other families from Chi- 
cago, settled southwest of Cedar Lake, in the neighbor- 
hood of the large Beckley family, in 1850 and 1851. This 
Beckley family were the founders of the large and pros- 
perous community of German Methodists in Hanover 
and West Creek Townships. Andrew Krinbill sold goods, 
sent East and obtained a shoemaker, sent to Chicago for 
a blacksmith, and commenced a flourishing village. The 
blacksmith and shoemaker made money and went to 
farming; and in 1858 Andrew Krinbill came up to the 
county seat. The village did not grow; but the farming 
interests flourished and the settlement increased. 

In Eagle Creek Township, J. W. Dinwiddie, retiring 
from business at Crown Point, became again a farmer, 
and was soon recognized as one of the best calculating, 
most energetic, and prominent men, not only of the 
township but of the county. Under his administration 
as township trustee the three large and well constructed 
school houses were erected known as Plum Grove, Eagle 
Creek, and Bryant's. He commenced and carried on 
actively large farming operations. 

At Southeast Grove were other energetic farmers and 
money makers, some of whom were residents of an ear- 
lier date, now making steady improvements and laying 
foundations for more rapid accumulations in the coming 
years. Their names will be found recorded in another 
connection. During these years the range for stock was 
abundantly large. Thousands of acres of excellent 
pasture lands invited the herds of cattle. The limit for 
stock raising was the amount of provender that could be 
provided for the winter. 



NEW GROWTH. I03 

In 1853, David Bryant returned again into the county, 
bought a large farm, and brought in from Ohio a flock of 
one thousand and sixty sheep in 1854. He now settled 
in Eagle Creek Township. The two Mitchells, David 
and Robert, at this time made business visits to the 
county, buying cattle and preparing the way for the loca- 
tion here of the Mitchell families. These afterwards 
went into the sheep business extensively. M. A. Halsted, 
also, and others, now commenced sheep keeping and 
wool raising. Parts of this region were found to be well 
adapted to this new pursuit. 

In Winfield Township, also, additions were made 
to the inhabitants. The large Patten family came July 
4, 1853; the Tarr families about the same year. The 
Wise, Hixon, and Sanders families came a few years 
earlier. James Cooper came in 1852, when soldier land 
warrants could be bought in the State of New York at the 
rate of fifty dollars for an eighty-acre warrant. Govern- 
ment land in this township could be found until about 
1854. 

New men appear also, entering into business and pro- 
fessional life, at Crown Point. James H. Luther, who 
came in 1849, was occupied during these years in hotel- 
keeping, merchandising, and farming, until in i860 he 
was elected county auditor. 

Zerah F. Summers became a resident in 1854, was 
elected county clerk in 1859, and has since become a 
grain buyer and leading business man. 

Dr. A. J. Pratt, from Michigan, went into partnership 
with Dr. Farrington in 1854, and after the death of the 
latter, entered upon an extensive practice, rapidly gaining 



I04 LAKE COUNTV. 

property and position. Dr. John Higgins, who graduated 
at a medical college in 1846, and had already located in 
Crown Point, was now pressing onward along the road to 
success. Dr. Brownell, from the state of New York, 
located in town in 1854. In 1856, still continuing to 
practice medicine, he removed to a farm not far from 
Plum Grove. 

In 1852 was formed the firm of Turner & Cramer; 
David Turner being the son of an old resident in Porter 
and Lake, and E. M. Cramer being a new man in the 
county, having moved from the State of New York, and 
living for a short time on a farm at South East Grove. 
This firm did, for these years, a large business, but was 
dissolved before this decade closed, E. M. Cramer enter- 
ing into public and political life and becoming one of the 
most popular men in the county, holding for two terms 
the office of county treasurer. 

In 1854 Frederick Foster, with his large family of four 
sons and four daughters and a son-in-law, removing from 
Pennsylvania, became a resident on a part of what is now 
Railroad Addition, purchasing his farm for fifteen dollars 
an acre. In the same year came Wm. Blowers and family ; 
and in February, 1855, the Sears family arrived at Crown 
Point. 

Other improvements of this period and names of fam- 
ilies becoming residents will be found in the more par- 
ticular notice of Crown Point. 

Into all parts of the county some new men came, Ger- 
mans from the Old World and Americans from the East, 
mature men seeking fields for enterprise, and young fam- 
ilies commencing life seeking for homes where they might 



NEW GROWTH. I05 

grow up with the growth of the new region. This was 
the period of our most rapid increase in population, as 
will be shown by the figures from the census reports. I 
am not able to name even each prominent man that be- 
came during these ten years a citizen ; much more will it 
be impossible for me to name them all. 

The railroads, the business men, the capital, the new 
forms of industry, mark this as emphatically a period of 

NEW GROWTH. 

There is a transaction belonging to the history of this 
county, in common with that of other counties in Indiana, 
which an impartial and faithful historian can hardly pass 
over in silence. It belongs to this decade and may be 
called the Swamp Land Speculation. The kind of notice 
which justice here demands has been a matter of grave 
consideration. 

The United States donated to the State of Indiana 
certain portions of government lands within its borders, 
to be selected in a certain way, which took the name of 
Swamp Lands. The Legislature passed an act, in May, 
1852, to regulate the sale of these lands and provide for 
draining and reclaiming them according to the condition 
of the grant. 

Quite a quantity of land remained unentered ten years 
after the land sale at La Porte. This was taken out of 
market in the different counties until the lands had been 
selected which were to be drained, reclaimed, and sold. 
There were selected in this county as such swamp land 
some 180 sections. This, at the minimum price of one 
dollar and a quarter an acre, would amount to $144,000. 
Any portion of this amount not used in the necessary 



to6 LAKE COUNTY. 

expenses connected with draining these wet lands was to 
become part of the common school fund of the State. 
The county auditors and treasurers were the authorized 
agents on the part of the State for selling these lands. 
A commissioner of swamp lands for each county 
was appointed by the governor, and the commissioner 
appointed and employed an engineer. 

It became known to the Legislature of the State that 
the funds arising from the sale of these lands were sup- 
posed to be improperly used, and they appointed a 
swamp land committee of investigation. From the 
printed report of this committee, made to the governor 
of Indiana, two thousand copies of which were ordered 
to be printed, the following statements and extracts are 
taken. Copies of this report are scarce in this county. 
Those sent here disappeared. 
This committee, after making several statements, say : 
" The different laws in relation to the expenditure of 
the swamp land fund are very imperfect, giving many 
opportunities for dishonest men to prey upon the fund 
with impunity — these opportunities seem to have been 
well improved." After stating some of these imperfec- 
tions they continue, " It seems that an opportunity to 
speculate thus opened was early discovered by a number 
of very prominent men, and large combinations formed 
to effect that object, and when a swamp land commis- 
sioner refused to be used as an instrument in their hands 
to carry out their views, they were potent in affecting his 
removal and in securing the appointment of one who 
would act in accordance with their wishes." Non-politi- 
cal readers might well exclaim, after hearing these state- 



NEW GROWTH. I07 

ments, What sort of legislators were these to frame laws 
that offered such temptations ! And what sort of an ex- 
ecutive that thus allowed removals and made appoint- 
ments ! The committee continued, " By this process, the 
fund in many of the counties * * * was exhausted, 
and in some cases largely overdrawn, and very little good 
effected by ditching." The committee visited several 
counties to ascertain facts. In reference to one county, 
especially, they say : " These investigations show frauds 
to an extent that seems to preclude the idea that honesty 
had any part in these transactions." Under "Lake 
county," they say : " The operations in this county have 
been quite extensive. The first commissioner appointed 
was S. P. Smith. There is no evidence to raise a doubt 
as to the correctness of his administration." The S. 
here is evidently a misprint for J., as the proper name of 
the treasurer is evidently also a misprint. In regard to 
the third commissioner, Henry Wells, they say : " No 
evidence was obtained to implicate him in any improper 
transaction." In regard to the fourth they say : " Under 
his administration the committee think extensive frauds 
were perpetrated." In regard to one individual they say : 
"These two sums thus obtained, amounting to seven 
thousand three hundred and nine dollars and sixty- five 
cents can undoubtedly be recieved * * * jf prop- 
erly prosecuted. * * How many similar transactions 
were had with other parties, is not known. It is under- 
stood that all the money recovered for swamp lands was 
retained in the hands of the county treasurer, and not 
paid over to the State treasurer. * * *." 

An example may be presented of the class of transac- 



Io8 LAKE COUNTY. 

tions referred to above, a few statements being given to 
make its features intelligible. 

" The commissioner and engineer were required to 
locate and lay out ditches, to make contracts, &c. The 
engineer was not required by law to keep a record of his 
estimates, nor to make certificates of estimates from which 
the commissioner should issue ditching certificates. Hence 
there was no check kept by the engineer upon the arrears 
of those ditching certificates issued by the commissioner. 
Nor does the law require the commissioner to keep a 
record of the ditching certificates issued by him, and the 
committee were unable to find in any case a record of 
those certificates." 

The example selected presents a case that may now be 
readily understood. A contractor assigned a blank ditch- 
ing certificate to another person who filled it up, or had 
it filled, "in the sum of two thousand, six hundred and 
nine dollars and sixty-five cents," and obtained and re- 
tained the money, other certificates being issued to the 
contractor for all the work he had done ; thus, in the lan- 
guage of the committee, " fraudently taking from the 
Swamp Land Fund the sum of two thousand, six hundred 
and nine dollars and sixty-five cents." 

The committee even found certificates with forged sig- 
natures on which money was drawn. Also they found 
certificates issued and money paid when no work had 
been done. They say in regard to two individuals, whom 
they name, that they believe " from the written testimony 
and testimony not recorded * * * ^ judgment 
could now be obtained * * * * for a sum not less 
than twenty thousand dollars, * * *." The whole 



NEW GROWTH. IO9 

amount of money taken away from this fund, the commit- 
tee had no means at hand, in this county, for summing 
up. The difference between the amount actually paid 
for work done and the whole amount for which these 
lands sold would probably be that sum. 

I have given no names of those implicated by that 
•committee in this transaction. Some, if not all of them, 
are still residents of this county, and I see no good to be 
accomplished by transmitting their names to posterity in 
this connection. The names of two commissioners, J. 
P. Smith and Henry Wells, two of the early settlers, it is 
a pleasure to me to be able to record as untarnished in 
respect to the Swamp Land speculations. 

The lessons for the present and the future are obvious. 
Send both capable and honest men to the Legislature. 
Elect to office and secure for official appointments men 
•of sterling integrity. And there is an old petition of 
which we might all do well to make more frequent use ; 
■*' Lead us not into temptation." The citizens of the 
county in the present have doubtless the right, the 
official report of the Investigating Committee being 
authority, to hold some of their public men responsible 
for pocketing a large amount of money. And the citi- 
zens of the future will have the right to feel that incom- 
petent or unfaithful legislators placed temptations before 
men in public life which resulted in defrauding the 
county of valuable drainage probably up to the amount 
of one hundred thousand dollars. 

Those conversant with the facts will sustain the asser- 
tion that quite probably $100,000, during those few years 
of fraudulent or speculative management, passed into 
10 



no LAKE COUNTY. 

the pockets of a few of our public men. And the amount 
which beyond question passed into the hands of corrupt 
officials in high position at Indianapolis was by no means 
small. How large there is no data here on which to base 
a conjecture. Let it be repeated that, of this transac- 
tion, the lessons are obvious. 

The grant of lands to the Wabash Canal has been 
already mentioned. The entries of the land seem to 
have extended from 1843 to 1856, the certificate of 
"lands sold in Lake county at the Canal Land Office," 
at Terre Haute, being dated February, 1857. 

The amount certified to as having been thus sold is 
some sixty sections. It thus appears that about two 
hundred and fifty square miles or sections, one half the 
area of the county, were donated by the United States 
Government for the purpose of internal improvements 
in Indiana. If thus liberal in other counties and in 
other States, quite an amount of the public fund would 
be definitely appropriated. Whether it be wise in gen- 
eral to make such disposition of the public domain, is a 
question for political economists and statesmen. 



OUR WAR RECORD. 



CHAPTER VI. 

OUR WAR RECORD AND PROGRESS. i860 1869. 

" Higher, higher, let us climb. 

Up the mount of glory ; 
That our names may live through time, 

In our country's story : 
Happy, when her welware calls. 
He who conquers, he who falls." 

Amid the political changes and excitements which 
marked in this land the sixth decade of the nineteenth 
century, this county, formerly Democratic, became 
strongly Republican, giving year by year those decided 
majorities which secured to Schuyler Colfax the repre- 
sentative of this district, his seat in Congress, and enter- 
ing heartily, in i860, into the campaign which resulted 
in the election of Abraham Lincoln. When, therefore, 
that shot was fired, at twenty minutes past four o'clock 
on the morning of April 12, 1 861, against the granite wall 
of Fort Sumter, which inaugurated the great Civil War 
in America; and when the tidings was flashed along the 
wires that Fort Sumpter had actually surrendered to the 
rebels, and that, on the historic 19th of April, blood was 
shed in the streets of Baltimore; and when the Presi- 
dent's call for volunteers was heard ; it was to be expected 
that the loyal citizens of Lake would thrill in that in- 
tense wave of excitement that poured over the North, 



112 LAKE COUNTY. 

and press forward at once for marching orders, that they 
might hasten to the scene of conflict. 

The entire population of the county in i860 was 9,145. 
The number of families was about 1,800. So many of 
our young men went into Illinois regiments that the 
whole number of our citizens enlisting cannot be deter- 
mined. So far as can be ascertained, as many as one 
thousand men from these eighteen hundred families 
entered the Union army. 

They were thus distributed : In the Ninth Indiana 
regiment, called, from the severe battles through which 
it passed and its own war record, " the Bloody Ninth," 
were about seventy. 

In the Twentieth Regiment were one hundred, Com- 
pany B. 

In the Seventy-third, one hundred. Company A. 

In the Ninety-ninth, one hundred. Company A. 

In the One Hundred and Twenty-eighth, twenty. 

In the One Hundred and Fifty-first, eighty. 

In the One Hundred and Fifty-fifth, about twenty. 

In the Fifth Cavalry were about twenty-five. 

In the Seventh, perhaps thirty. 

In the Twelfth Cavalry, Edward Anderson, Colonel, 
we were represented by Company G. 

There were also some thirty in one Indiana battery, 
and several in other batteries. Some of our young men 
enlisted in the regiments of other States, about three 
hundred enlisting in the State of Illinois. 

The Indiana regiments acquired an honorable repu- 
tation on the field of battle, and their record belongs to 
the historic records of th- State and of the Union. 



OUR WAR RECORD. II3 

The Ninth and the Twentieth gained special distinc- 
tion on the various bloody fields where their flags waved 
in triumph. The Ninth was in battle at Shiloh, Perry- 
ville, Danville, Wild Cat Mountain, Chickamauga, Look- 
out Mountain, and Mission Ridge. It was also at Atlanta 
and in various connected engagements, and in the battles 
at Columbia and at Nashville. 

The Twentieth went to Hatteras Inlet, to Fortress 
Monroe, aided in the capture of Norfolk, and joined the 
Army of the Potomac. Its various fortunes and con- 
flicts as a part of this great army need not here be 
detailed. It finally reached Gettysburg, July 2, 1863, 
where, says Venable, "the greatest and most important 
battle of the whole war was fought." He adds, "The 
fury of the third day's engagement is indescribable. 
Whole brigades were almost utterly destroyed. The 
slope of Cemetery Hill, upon Avhich the hardest struggle 
occurred, was literally heaped with the slain." Here the 
Twentieth, says our x^djutant General, "lost its com- 
manding officer, Col. John Wheeler, and 152 men and 
officers killed and wounded." Among those killed were 
besides Col. Wheeler of Crown Point, two others of our 
soldier boys, George W^ Edgerton and J. Richmond. 
The regiment was afterwards at New York City on guard 
duty, and then at the battle of the Wilderness, and at 
other noted engagements. 

The Seventy-third Regiment was engaged in Kentucky, 
Tennessee and Alabama, in various battles, losing their 
commanding officer. Col. Gilbert Hathaway, formerly a 
lawyer at our bar, at Blount's farm, Alabama, and were 
on the next day. May 3, 1863, all captured at Cedar Bluffs. 



114 LAKE COUNTY. 

The men were soon exchanged, but the ofificers were kept 
in a long imprisonment. 

As an illustration of what our imprisoned officers ex- 
perienced, I give the narrative of Captain Alfred Fry, of 
the Seventy-Third :* 

NARRATIVE. 

Alfred Fry enlisted as a private soldier July 26, 1862. 
and was mustered into the service of the U. S'. at South 
Bend, August 16, as Orderly Sergeant of Company A, 
Seventy-third Regiment Indiana Volunteers. .Pro- 
ceeded to Lexington, via Louisville, Sept. ist, was com- 
missioned Second Lieutenant of Company A. The 
defeat of the Union forces at Richmond, Kentucky, 
obliged the regiment to leave Lexington and retire to 
Louisville, where he was ordered to report at the head- 
quarters of Gen. Ward for duty as Brigade Commissary, 
which position he held until the reorganization of the 
army under Gen. Buell. On the first of October the 
regiment was assigned to the Twentieth Brigade, Sixth 
Division of Buell's Army, and commenced the pursuit of 
Bragg. Entered Nashville Nov. 26. 

Dec. 2, 1862, he was commissioned as First Lieuten- 
ant, and engaged in the battle of Stone River. Was 
under fire for six days. Lost here Edward Welch, of 
Winfield Township, the first man killed in the regiment. 

On the 19th of Jan., '63, Lieut. Fry was recommended 
by Col. Hathaway to Gov. Morton, and was commissioned 
as captain of Company A. April 10, '6^, the regiment 

*NoTE. — I have changed the form of the narrative furnished to me, from the first 
to the third person, and have made slight alterations in some expressions; but the 
substance remains the same. As the account of a well-known citizen who had a per- 
sonal experience of the horrors of Libby Prison, I have felt it proper to place it on 
permanent record. 



OUR WAR RECORD. II5 

•was assigned to Col. Streight's brigade. April 30 this 
brigade, only 1500 strong, was attacked by 4000 rebels 
under Gens. Forrest and Roddy, while on its march to 
perform duty. The enemy were repulsed and the brig- 
ade pushed on. Were attacked again in the evening at 
Crooked Creek. May 2d, again attacked at Blount's 
farm, Alabama. The 73d bore the brunt of this fight, 
and here the gallant Col. Hathaway fell, mortally 
wounded, while at the head of the troops and cheering 
on his men. 

May 3d, being out of ammunition, exhausted by five 
days incessant marching and skirmishing, and surrounded 
by superior forces, the brigade surrendered on most hon- 
orable conditions, which were afterwards basely violated. 
The men were soon forwarded north and exchanged. 
The officers were kei)t in close confinement nearly two 
years. When they surrendered they were to be paroled 
and sent through our lines, but they were sent to Rich- 
mond, Virginia, and then on the i6th of May they entered 
the famous Libby Prison. Their paroles had been taken 
from them, and they had been told that they were not 
recognized as belonging to the army, but were highway 
robbers, bridge burners, negro stealers, and that they 
would be turned over to the civil authorities of Alabama, 
and be tried and hung. On their arrival at Libby they 
were searched, their greenbacks taken away and likewise 
their blankets, and up three flights of stairs they were 
placed in a room one hundred and twenty-five feet by 
fifty. Here Captain Fry found a rusty tin plate and a 
rheumatic knife and fork as instruments for house-keep- 
ing, and prepared little sacks for holding salt, sugar, 



Il6 LAKE COUNTY. 

pepper, and rice. These were not very well filled. The 
rations were three-fourths of a pound of coarse corn 
bread, one gill of rice, half a pound of beef, and a very- 
little salt. 

The vermin were the most revolting feature of the 
prison. No amount of personal cleanliness could guard 
against the insatiate lice, and only by examining their 
clothing and destroying them once or twice a day could 
these hideous creatures be kept from swarming on the 
persons of the prisoners. P'or other occupation during 
the long evenings the prisoners would sing the Star 
Spangled Banner, Old Hundaed, and Old John Brown. 
In this dreary abode Captain Fry remained a year, leav- 
ing Libby, in company with others. May 7, '64, for Dan- 
ville. May 1 2th they left Danville. Arrived May 17th 
at Macon, Georgia, and were marched into the prison- 
pen, an area of some two acres, surrounded by a stock- 
ade fence fifteen feet high. July 27th were transferred 
to Charleston, South Carolina, and placed in the jail- 
yard under fire of the Union guns on Morris' Island. 
Here the ground was literally covered with vermin. The 
prisoners were without shelter. They were brought 
there to save the city from the shells of the Union bat- 
teries. October 5th they were sent to Columbia, and 
arrived in the midst of a terrific rain storm. The pris- 
oners were compelled to leave the cars and to pass the 
night in an open field, without food, blankets, tents, at 
the mercy of the elements, and four pieces of artillery- 
trained upon the ground they occupied. When the 
storm ceased they were removed two miles to another 
open field, and here, without even the shelter of a tree or 



OUR WAR RECORD. IT/ 

bush, endured the scorching sunshine that followed the 
storm. The rations here, to last five days, were five 
quarts of very coarse corn meal, one quart of sorghum, 
two tablespoonfuls of coarse salt, two tablespoonfuls of 
rice. 

A wild hog chanced to pass the guard line. As soon 
as he had fairly entered, a general advance was made, 
and he was captured. One seized a leg, another an ear, 
others twisted their bony fingers into the bristles and 
closed hands, eyes, and teeth, as if for a death struggle. 
Every man clung to the part he first seized until it was 
cut off and securely lodged in the kettle for supper. 
Between four and five hundred half-starved men were 
soon devouring him. This stray hog furnished the only 
meat tasted at Columbia, and for this no thanks were 
returned to the rebels. 

February 14th, 1865, they were removed to Charlotte, 
were paroled, sent to Wilmington, and there, March ist, 
entered once more the Union lines. Captain Fry 
returned to Crown Point and remained with his family 
from March 13th till April 14th, when he reported 
for duty at Columbus, Ohio, remained here a month, was 
exchanged, and returned to his company at Larkinsville, 
Alabama, and on the 4th of July, 1865, arrived at Indian- 
apolis, where the regiment was finally discharged, offi- 
cers and men returning to their homes. 



The Twelfth Cavalry consisted of twelve companies, 
six only mounted, recruited in the fall and winter of 1863, 
eight being rendezvoused at Michigan City and four at 
Kendallville. The regimental organization was completed 



Il8 LAKE COUNTY. 

at Kendallville, and in May, 1864, the regiment left that 
place and preceded to Nashville. Remaining in a camp 
of instruction about three weeks, the regiment left for 
Huntsville May 29. Here, and over quite a territory, 
they performed guard duty, and were engaged in fight- 
ing guerrillas and " busliAvackers," a large number of the 
regiment being killed or wounded in these engagements 
and skirmishes. After remaining about a month at 
Huntsville, the headquarters were removed to Browns- 
borough, where they remained until the 15th of Septem- 
ber, when the regiment was ordered to Tallahassee. Here 
they watched the movements of the rebel General For- 
rest and had several skirmishes with bands of his men 
and with guerrillas. On the 26th of November they 
proceeded to Murfreesboro and took part in the battle of 
Wilkinson's Pike and Overall's Creek, *&nd in December 
went into winter quarters at Nashville. February 11, 
1865, the regiment started for New Orleans, stopped at 
Vicksburg, and reached New Orleans March 12. They 
proceeded to Mobile Bay, found occupation there and in 
Florida, and after the fall df Mobile, reporting to Major 
General Grierson, April 17th, they took part in a raid of 
over eight hundred miles into Georgia, and across Ala- 
bama to Columbus, Mississippi, arriving there May 20. 
Making some other changes, doing guard duty, protect- 
ing government cotton, and other property, the regiment 
was mustered out of the service at Vicksburg, Novem- 
ber 10, 1865, and returned to Indiana. It was paid off 
and its members discharged November 22. 

"The regiment was highly and specially complimented 
by Major General Grierson, in a letter to Governor 



OUR WAR RECORD. II9 

Morton, for its gallant conduct and military discipline." 
Vol. III., page 268, Adjutant General's Report. 

The following is an extract from a letter written by one 
of the officers of Company G, to his father, who then 
resided in Hanover township, and was taking an active 
interest in the events and issues of the war. It bears 
date June ii, 1865. 

Camp near Columbus, Miss. " I see the Register thinks 
the Twelfth has not amounted to much in the service. 
I wont say how that may be, but we have certainly been 
on duty enough. Commanders of posts and brigades 
with which we have been connected have certainly called 
on us enough. Last summer the men were often on duty 
every other twenty-four hours for weeks at a time, and 
men have often been obliged to stand guard for three or 
four days at a time. People at a distance, or those who 
have to depend on talk for their information, seldom get 
it very correct. I suppose the Twelfth is as well disci- 
plined as the average of cavalry regiments. Col. Karge, 
Second New Jersey, who has commanded different bri- 
gades ever since the war commenced, said that the 
Twelfth Indiana was the best regiment he ever com- 
manded. So also said a steamboat captain, that the 
Twelfth had the finest, most gentlemanly officers and men 
of any regiment he ever saw. This is rather more praise 
than we deserve, but then the men are what their sur- 
roundings make them, and if we had been sent out on a 
campaign at first we might have won a different name. 
In short, I don't believe we are any better or worse than 
any one else." 

That the Twelfth Cavalry gained no distinguished war 



I20 LAKE COUNTY. 

honors is doubtless true ; but having no opportunity to 
engage in any noted battle, it is not just to infer that its 
arduous services were useless, or that its officers and men 
would not have borne themselves gallantly in fight. 

Hanover township lost, out of Company G, two of its 
promising and energetic young men, sons and brothers 
whom their families knew not how to give up, Charles 
Ball, 2d Lieutenant, and Stillman A. Robbins; and 
Tinkonville lost one of its leading citizens, the son of an 
old settler. Miles F. McCartv. 

The following extract from a letter, written by a mem- 
ber of the company to the author of this record, will be 
of interest to at least one circle of relatives and friends: 

" I did not, in my former letter, say anything about 
Franklin McCarty's death. He died the day after I got 
to Nashville" — May 27, 1864 — "but I did not know he 
was dangerously ill till the night he died. Some one 
told Will Scrietchfield that he was not expected to live,, 
about dark, and then he could not go. We were camped,, 
by the way, some three miles from Nashville. Enlisted 
men are not entitled to receive the countersign which 
enables them to pass guards after dark, but, as it is gen- 
erally known to me from my connection with the adju- 
tant, I went down ; but he was already dead. I think he 
never enjoyed himself very well in the company, and felt 
that he was not placed in a position that his age and tal- 
ents warranted." 

That he had reason thus to feel I doubt not ; for, hav- 
ing known him well for many years, I am sure he had 
capabilities which favorable circumstances would have 
rapidly developed. As he was one of a circle of boys- 



OUR WAR RECORD. 121 

living around Cedar Lake, in the early days, so many of 
whom are dead or scattered now, it is not strange that 
those pleasant associations of youth should make me lin- 
ger here on this record. And, alas ! he who wrote those 
lines quoted above, before the regiment returned to the 
West, permitting its members to enjoy the repose and 
comforts of their quiet homei;, himself fell a victim to 
disease, and returned to Cedar Lake to die, where his 
hopes of life had so brightly budded. 

While some fell, and some must ever fall — well has 
one said, " There is seldom a line of glory written upon 
■earth's surface, but a line of suffering runs parallel with 
it ; and he who reads the lustrous syllables of the one 
and stoops not to decipher the worn, and dimmed, and 
tear-stained inscriptions of the other, gets the least half 
of what even earth has to give;" — while some fell and 
were wept for in secret, others returned home with the 
■scars of war, sharers in the glory of a just success, and 
are now filling positions of profit and honor. Three re- 
turned soldiers are this year candidates for three of our 
highest offices, John Brown, for Treasurer; John Donch, 
for Sheriff, and John M. Dwyer, for Recorder. Others 
are leading business men in our towns, and others still 
are the owners and the tillers of the soil. But let us re- 
turn to the decade of the war. 

The pulpits of Crown Point, as elsewhere in the West, 
patriotic but; not political, were thoroughly on the side 
of the Union. Services were held from time to time ap- 
propriate to the several occasions of joy and sorrow, of 
hopes and of fears ; fasts and thanksgivings were ob- 
served ; and earnest words ol religious teaching and pat- 



122 LAKE COUNTY. 

riotic feeling were uttered. After the fall of Vicksburg, 
and the capture of Fortress Monroe, in 186.3, the Presi- 
dent recommended the observance of a day of Thanks- 
giving. The following hymn, written by one of the 
pastors in town, was sung at Crown Point, during the 
services of that day, September 11, 1863: 

THANKSGIVING HYMN. 

God of our fathers, now to thee, 

Our grateful homage we would pay ; 

Thou leadest on the bond, the free ; , 

Help us to praise thy might to-day. 

Thou lovest right, thou hatest wrong ; 

By thee the bondmen's chains are riven ; 
Beleagured town and fortress strong, 

Into our hands by thee are given. 

For this we praise thy matchless power. 

For this we lift our hearts to thee ; 
In each e.xultant, joyous hour. 

Do thou our God and Fortress be. 

We recognize thy powerful hand ; 
We bow before thy holy might ; 
Oh be thou gracious to our land, 
. Oh bring us forth to noon-tide light. 

When at length the war cloud passed, and in the 
spring of 1865 the rebel armies surrendered, the bronzed 
and war-worn veterans hastened back to their peaceful 
homes. But many a mother's eyes were dim with tears, 
the hearts of many a wife and maiden throbbed with an- 
guish, as the " boys in blue " returned ; for their own 
sons, and husbands, and brothers, had given their lives 
to maintain our national existence. Nobly did many of 



OUR WAR RECORD. 



123 



the families of Lake resign their loved ones to the grand- 
ness of the cause that had called them forth to dare, and 
do, and die ; but they nevertheless felt that some of their 
choicest treasures had perished in the terrible conflict. 

Of our one thousand men, how many fell on the red 
fields of blood, and died in camp and hospital, cannot 
now be ascertained. The names of some who perilled 
life for their country's welfare, and lost their lives on ac- 
count of the Great Rebellion, are here recorded. There 
is an old saying: Duke et decorum est pro patria mori, 
"It is pleasant and noble to die for one's country." 
In behalf of each one of these, his friends may say, — To 
perpetuate this Union of States he died. 

From the Roll of Honor, of Indiana Volunteers, as 
found in Vol. VIII, of the Adjutant General's Report, 
the foUowino; list is made out : 



Names. 
Charles Ball, 
Henry Brockman, 
Charls Crothers, 
Sidney W. Chapman, 
Jacob Deeter, 
R. L. Fuller, 
Ephraim E. Goff, 
Wm. Harland, 
M. Hoopendall, 
Fred. Kahle, 
F. S. Miller, 
Albert Moore, 
M. F. McCarty, 
A. McMillen, 
Wm. M. Pringle, 



TWELFTH CAVALRY 

Where Dying. 

At home. 
New Orleans, 
Kendallville, 
New Orleans, 
Vicksburg, 



At home, 

Starkville, 

Nashville, 

Huntsville, 

Kendallville, 

At home, 

Kendallville, 

Nashville, 

Michigan City, 

Nashville, 



COMPANY G. 

When. 

September 12, 1865 

April 5, 1865 

March 17, 1864 

April 18, 1S65 

January 4, 1865 

October 27, 1864 

August 16, 1865, 

January 8, 1865 

June 22, 1864 

April 13, 1864 



'April 3, 1864 

May 27, 1864 

February 3, 1864 

November 4, 1864 



124 



LAKE COUNTY. 



:S. A. Robbins, 


Huntsville, 


July i8, 


1864 


Wm. Stubby, 


At home. 


May 15, 


1864 


"Wm. Stinkle, 


Nashville, 


February i, 


1865 


Ezra Wedge, 


At home. 


February 3, 
OMPANY B. 


1864 


TWENTIETH 


REGIMENT— O 




Col. John Wheeler, 


Gettysburg, 


July 2, 


1863 


George W. Edgerton, 


Gettysburg, 


July 2, 


1863 


Horace Fuller, 


Wilderness, 


May 5, 


1864 


Lawrence Frantz, 


Spootsylvania, 


May 12, 


1864 


John Griesell, 


David Island, 


August 16, 


1862 


M. Hafey, 


Pittsburg, 










C. Hazworth, 




May 26, 


1863 


Wm. Johnson, 


Petersburg, 


June 18, 


1864 


Albert Kale, 


Camp Hampton, 


Dec. 17, 


i86t 


Wm. Mutchler, 


Camp Smith, 


April 25 


,1862 


P. Mutchler, 


Washington, 


July 15, 


1862 


James Merrill, 


Wilderness, 


May 5, 


1864 


S. Pangburn, 


Andersonville, 


November 6, 


1864 


C. Potter, 














D. Pinckerton, 
J. Richmond, 








Gettysburg, 


July 2, 


1863 


John F. Torr, 


Washington, 


November 24, 


1862 


Isaac Williams, 




July 5- 


1863 




Charles Winters, 


City Point, 


June 19, 
-COMPANY A. 


1864 


SEVENTY-THIRD REGTMENT- 




Lewis Atkins, 


Nashville, 


November 22, 


1862 


Eli Atwood, 


Nashville, 


November 2g, 


1862 


John Childers, 


Nashville, 


December 3, 


1862 


John H. Earley, 


Stone River, 


December 31, 


1862 


R. W. Fuller, 


Indianapolis, 


August 2, 


1863 


Wm. Frazier, 


Nashville, 


December 15, 


1862 


J. M. Fuller. 


Gallatin, 


January 2g, 


1863 


:M. Graves, 


Nashville, 


December 16, 


1862 


T. W. Loving, 


Na-^hv:ile, 


.Sep; ember 30, 


1S63 



OUR WAR RECORD. 



125 



A. Lamphier, 


Nashville, 


January 7, 


1863 


JL. Morris, 


Nashville, 


April 30, 


1863 


I. W. Moore, 


Gallatin, 


December 2g, 


1862 


John Maxwell, 


Scottsville, 


November 9, 


1862 


Albert Nichols, 


Nashville, 


December i. 


1862 


James Roney, 


Nashville, 


February 8, 


1863 


C. Van Burg, 


Bowling Green, 


December 23, 


1862 


M. Vincent, 


Gallatin, 


January 8, 


1863 


E. Woods, 


Nashville, 


November 29, 


1862 


E. Welch, 


Stone River, 


December 31, 


1862 


S. White, 


Blunt's Farm, 


May 2 
-COMPANY A. 


1863 


NINETY-NINTH REGIMENT- 




D. F. Sawyer, 




February 12, 


1863 


0. E. Atkins, 


Nickajack, 


July 6, 


1864 


D. T. Burnham, 




August 21, 


1864 




J. Bartholomew, 


Andersonville, 


August 22, 


1864 


J. D. Clingham, 


Huntsville, 


July II, 


1864 


H. A. Case, 


La Grange, 


March 10, 


1863 


James Foster, 


Atlanta, 


July 22, 


1864 


James Horton, 


Atlanta, 


July 22, 


1864 


H. H. Raskins, 


Andersonville, 


October 20, 


1864 


R. T. Harris, 


La Grange, 


March 11, 


1863 


John Lorey, 


Black River, 


September 21, 


1863 


Adam Mock, 


Black River, 


September 11, 


1863 


N. Newman, 


Black River, 


August 4, 


1863 


T. C. Pinnel, 


La Grange, 


February 7, 


1863 


Corydon Pierce, 


Washington, 


April, 


1863 


Albert Robbins, 




August 6, 


1864 




J. Schmidt, 


Indianapolis, 


July 28, 


1863 


J. Stickleman, 




September 23, 


1864 




A, Vandervert, 




March 19, 


1863 




M. Winand, 


At home, 


December 11, 


1864 


• It seems singular 


that the four companies should have 


lost almost the same 


number of men 


Company G, 


and 


II 









126 LAKE COUNTY. 

Company B, nineteen each ; and the two A companies 
each twenty. Taking twenty per cent, as the general 
average, our whole loss would be two hundred men. 

Terrible was that necessity that caused throughout the 
North the loss of so many young and valuable lives ;. 
and that appeal to arms on the part of the South, for the 
settlement of a long dispute, must be held responsible for 
a large amount of life-blood and treasure. We may 
well hope that the whole nation has been sufficiently 
taught not to kindle again the flames of fraternal strife. 
Multitudes of this generation, both North and South, will 
carry with them to their graves the dark shadows which 
passed over their souls, in those fearful years of the life 
struggles of a great nation, as loved ones so untimely 
fell ; and, of these, young and loyal Lake may well claim 
to have her full share. Some proper estimate here ought 
to be placed on the value of a united and not a dissev- 
ered nation. 

Although for four years of this decade the absorb- 
ing interest was the war, and the withdrawing of a 
thousand men from our industrial pursuits was at times 
sorely felt, yet prices advanced enormously, and all kinds 
of farm products found a ready and remunerative sale, 
and improvements and increase of inhabitants still went 
forward. In 1861 corn sold for seventeen cents a bushel, 
and a dull market. Before the close of the war, in 1864, 
corn sold for ninety cents a bushel at Dyer Station. 
Pork, which had also been low, as well as all other agri- 
cultural productions, advanced to si.xteen dollars a hun- 
dred weight, and most other products in proportion. 
" Greenbacks " were issued by the 'Government, boun- 



PROGRESS. 127 

ties and quarterly payments were sent home by the sol- 
diers, and money became plenty. 

Many good frame buildings were erected during the 
last ten years ; but about i860 commenced an era of a 
far better class of buildings. Henry Dittmers, who 
bought, in 1859, that farm on Cedar Lake, where the Ball 
family had for twenty- two years resided, erected one of the 
first of these in i860. He bought common lumber in 
Chicago for seven dollars a thousand, and laid out in a 
house and barns some four thousand dollars. His exam- 
ple was followed by many others. Most of the best 
buildings now in the county, and especially of those in 
the towns and villages, have been erected since i860. 

In 1865 a new impulse was given to Crown Point, and 
to all the southern portion of the county, by the comple- 
tion of the Cincinnati Air Line Railroad, known after- 
ward as the Great Eastern, and now called Pittsburg, 
Cincinnati & St. Louis Railway. This road, passing 
through Crown Point, started it at once into new life. 
Railroad Addition was laid out and added to the town' 
a depot building was erected, grain houses were built, 
and a western railroad growth commenced. 

In the same year (1865) an educational enterprise was 
started which accomplished something for the intellectual 
progress of the community. Block No. i in Rail Road 
Addition was obtained, a building was soon completed 
at a cost — building and furniture — of some $5,300, and 
in January, i'866, the building was occupied for school 
purposes. I place on record here, as a memento of what 
it was designed to be and was, its last advertisement, as 
published in the Castalian, of March, 1870. 



128 LAKE COUNTY. 

CROWN POINT INSTITUTE. 



FOUNDERS 

CROWN POINT INSTITUTE EDUCATIONAL COMPANY, ORGANIZED 

MAY 31, 1865. 
Designed to furnish Collegiate Instruction for young ladies and young men, with a 
graduating course for the former, in 



I. — Languages, 
II. — Physical Sciences, 
III. — Mathematics, 



IV. — Philosophy, 
V. — Belles- Lettres, 
VI. — Ornamental Branches. 



Preparatory and Primary Departments were also added. Instruction commenced 
September 11, 1865. 

T. H. BALL, Proprietor and Trustee. 



LOCATION. 
Crown Point is located on the Chicago, Columbus and Indiana Central Railroad, 
forty miles from Chicago, in Lake County, Indiana. ,It is noted for the healthfulness 
and beauty of its location. It is a county seat. 

THE INSTITUTE. 
Is now in its Fifth Year. The Fourth Terra will commence April 23, 1870. Ten 
weeks in each Term — Four terms in a year. Pleasant rooms are furnished for self- 
boarders. 

RATES OF TUITION, ETC., PER TERM, PAY.\BI,E IN ADVANCE. 



Primary Department $300 

Intermediate 4.00 

Preparatory 5.00 

Collegiate 6.00 

Janitor's fees _ 50 

Room Rent (self-boarders) 2.50 

Drawing Lessons 2.00 

Painting, Water Colors 4.00 



Bookkeeping $2.00 

Music — l..essons and use of Instru- 
ment — ■ 

Melodeon 8.00 

Piano 10.00 

Board — washing and lights exclu- 
ded 30.00 

Or, per week 3.00 



VACATIONS. 
At Christmas, one week ; in April, one week ; Summer vacation, ten weeks. 

RECREATIONS. 
'Besides the daily e.vercises and recreation, excursions sometimes to Cedar Lake, 
^ beautiful sheet of water, distant five miles, and a few sleigh rides in the winter. 
COURSE OF STUDY. 

PRIMARY. 

Spelline Writing, Mental Arithmetic, 

Reading', Geography. Readers, ist, 2d, 3d & 4th. 

INTERMEDIATE. 

The same, adding Practical Arithmetic and Fifth Reader. 

PREPARATORY. 

Spelling Practical Arithmetic, Algebra, 

Sixth Reader, (ieography, Latin Grammar, and 

intellectual Arithmetic, English Grammar, Reader. 



PROGRESS. 129 

V 

COLLEGIATE. 

YOUNG LADIES' COURSE. 

FIRST YEAR — JUNIOR CLASS. 

English Analysis and Physiology, Composition and Rhetoric, 

Scanning, History of the United Csesar, 

Physical Geography, States, Botany. 
Algebra, 

SECOND YEAR — MIDDLE CLASS. 

Ancient Geography, Geometry. Moral Science, 

History of England, Natural Philosophy, Zoology, 

Virgil, Trigonometrj', Cicero's Orations. 

THIRD YEAR — SENIOR CLASS. 

Political Economy, Chemistry, Modern History, 

Horace, Ancient History, Mineralogy and Geology, 

Logic, Elements of Criticism, Evidences of Christianity. 

Mental Philosophy, Astronomy, Butler's Analogy. 

OPTIONAL IN THE COURSE, AND NOT NAMED ABOVE. 
Bookkeeping, Drawing, Painting, Greek, German, Vocal and Instrumental Mu- 
sic, Sallust, Livy and Tacitus. 

Rhetorical Exercises, Recitations and Compositions required in each department. 



After taking out the musical instruments and some 
furniture, its academic work having been accomplished, 
the Institute property was sold, August i, 1871, to the 
town of Crown Point for the sum of $3,600. Thus, like 
the Institute at Valparaiso, like the Female Institute at 
Indianapolis, like some other such private enterprises, it 
passed into the hands of the public, the prevailing dispo- 
sition now in Indiana being to sustain only public graded 
and district schools. The following statements were 
published in the Standard^ of Chicago, in July, 1872, 
which also, as a condensed view of things accomplished 
in the edueational line, I place among these records. 

The communication from which the extract is taken 
was signed by the former Principal of the Institute. After 
stating its origin and reason for its transfer to other 
hands the article proceeds : 

" It educated, more or less, a few hundred students, 
■who are now, so far as I know, in Nova Scotia, New 



130 LAKE COUNTY. 

York, Kentucky, Virginia, Alabama, Indiana, Illinois, 
Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, and in the far West. Quite a 
number have engaged in teaching. Some are practicing 
law and medicine, some are clerks and in business, some 
are farmers and mechanics. One only is preparing for 
the ministry. Most of the young ladies have married, 
and a number of the young men. Some of the young 
ladies became leaders of church-music. All who have 
gone into life seem to be active and useful. Three of the 
young ladies have died. Seventeen of the students I 
baptized. Most of them received religious instruction. 
During one of the years there were some sixty boarders. 
Other years, not quite so many. The students were from 
the families of Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, Spir-' 
itualists, Lutherans, Catholics, and Jews. 

" If labor for the mind and heart is profitable, if he 
who trains for activity and usefulness young minds 
achieves success, then I doubt not that when the in- 
volved radical of my strange earthly life is solved, the 
unknown quantities representing six years of varied labor 
here will come out in integers of determinate and real 
value. The equation is one which no mathematician at 
present can solve, although he perceives entering into it 
a minus one thousand. To sell was, for myself, finan- 
cially, needful; for the cause of education it was a retro- 
grade movement. There are those whose real interests 
should have perpetuated such a school as a living power 
for years yet to come." 

The Institute also published a paper, the first literary 
and educational paper in the county, at first called the 
Pierian, and afterward its name was changed to Cas- 



PROGRESS 131 

TALiAN. The educated reader will not need to be in- 
formed that these both are classic names. This periodi- 
cal became an eight-page monthly, of good size and neat 
appearance. Of its literary character, Prof. Harkness, 
of Brown University, and others in the East, spoke very 
favorably ; and the St/n Beam, in its Literary Review, 
naming a number of exchanges, said, " The Castalian, 
Crown Point, Ind., and The Mount Auburn Index, Cin- 
cinnati, Ohio, are educational monthlies worthy the pat- 
ronage of every lover of learning." 

Commencing November, 1867, its last issue was sent 
out in March, 1870. It may be that the teachers of the 
public schools would have done themselves credit and 
promoted their own interests by securing its continuance 
as an educational journal, but both it and the Institute 
are now among the things of the past. 

The Pierian Society, conducted by the members of the 
Institute in its palmy days, the only society of the kind 
which has yet existed in the county, whose annual exhi- 
bitions were well attended, belongs alike to this period 
of educational progress. 

The hundreds of former students, scattered widely 
now, will recall pleasant remembrances in connection 
with their academic life ; and none of them will forget 
one, always so earnest and active in the Society, and in 
behalf of the Castalian, the most thorough Latin and 
Greek scholar of the Institute, Henry Johnson, of Crown 
Point ; nor will they be surprised that he, entering the 
Sophomore Class at Hanover College, took the honors of 
the class in the languages, graduated with credit, and is 
now pursuing a theological course in the seminary at 



132 LAKE COUNTY. 

Chicago ; and while the Dinwiddies and others are 
achieving success in farming, and J. B. Turner, and W. 
Weatherbee, and H. Nichols, and E. Bibler, and so many 
others are pressing on in business; and H. H. Pratt, H. 
Castle, and H. Pettibone are looking forward to distinc- 
tion in the medical profession, scores of others, active 
men and women now, making their mark in the world; 
none will be surprised if Henry Johnson, in his lone 
pathway, as a herald of the Cross, should gain at last the 
highest honor of them all. For a prophet's pen has writ- 
ten, "And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness 
of the firmament ; and they that turn many to righteous- 
ness, as the stars for ever and ever." 

From the Castalian of April, 1868, the following is 
taken, and it is again commended to all who are inter- 
ested in education : 

" The teaching which the Institute gives to its stu- 
dents : 

I St. Prepare yourselves for usefulness. 

2d. Prepare yourself for happiness. 

3d. Do what you can to fit others for usefulness and 
happiness." 

In the same year (1865) two ladies came from Illinois, 
Misses M, and K. Knight, and started a boarding and 
day school for girls in Crown Point. They erected a 
small building on East Street, which has since been re- 
moved to the south end of town. They have also erected 
on South Street a dwelling house, have admitted boys and 
some young men into their school, and seem to be quite 
prosperous. 

In 1866 the first Teachers' Institute of the county was 



PROGRESS. 133 

held, conducted by W. W. Cheshire, then School Exam- 
iner. Pertaining to the Teachers' Institute, I find the 
following record taken from the Crown Point Register. 
As a fugitive production, belonging, probably, to 1867, 
it may interest the hundred teachers of the county to see 
it reproduced on a more permanent page. 

" On Thursday evening the Social was well attended 
by both teachers and citizens. The exercises consisted 
of toasts, music, volunteer speeches, and reading. The 
following poem, prepared expressly for the occasion, was 
read by Mr. J. H. Ball : 

Fellow teachers and friends, we're assembled (o-night 

To enjoy from stern science a social respite. 

A draft of nepenthe from study and care, 

Diversion to cheer us, kindred feelings to share. • 

And though knowing all play " makes Jack a mere toy," 

Still we think that all study " makes but a dull boy " ; 

Hence, mirth, wit, and science we'd mingle together. 

Nor one from the other would too widely sever ; 

Yet of " Puss in the Corner," and " Blind Man's Buff," 

Had we not in our childhood surely enough? 

Above such enjoyment then, gently we'll mount. 

And sprinkle our pastimes from Piera's fount. 

In a parenthesis here to insert, 

Classical hearers, please do not feel hurt ; 

Our shoes may seem shoddy plodding that ground, 

But mayn't sense sometimes yield for the sake of the sound ? 

Besides toasts, then, and music, and speech most profound. 

With our names, kindest friends, we'll acquaint you around. 

And the first to be found on the list or the roll, 

The two Arnolds of Merrillville quickly are told ; 

Not an Arnold of traitor extraction I ween, 

For a Violet never disloyal can seem. 

Next come the Bs, and the list not so small ; 



134 LAKE COUNTY. 

There is Barton, and Bonnell, and Bothwell, and Ball ; 

Bacon, and Boyd, and Barker, and Brannon ; 

Gents and ladies in " pi " you'll observe by the scanning. 

Craft, Cheshires, and Chapman, Cramer followed by Chase, 

There's a Castle, a Coffin, and Death we must face ; 

Dittmers and Davis, and with D we are done ; 

And a Foster fills proudly F's column alone. 

Gregg, Granger, and Gerloch, and then conies a Hyde, 

Hayne, Hill, and a Holton who stands in his pride. 

A Jackson, a Johns, a Miss Johns, ah, ha ! 

For a lady's name truly they've wandered afar. 

A Kenny, a Knothe, a Lehman you see. 

And skip "Ab," the invincible who never will flee. 

The M's are so many we look out for the Mair, 

To be lost in the list were an accident dire. 

But no danger, that thought we quickly forestall. 

For there stand the two Melvilles, both graceful and tall, 

McClaren, McCracken, Merrill, Martins you scan. 

Now introduce you a lady, yet surprising, a Mann ! 

Now Nichols from Lowell, stands alone in the line ; 

Silver nickel is good, Hannah comes in good time. 

Here is Palmer, and Pelton, a Pearce for the Post, 

Rhea, Rundells, and Rollins, and in S stand a host ; 

Sykes, Sales, Sasse, and Sheehan, Sturges, Sherman, and Starrs, 

Like the bright flashing meteors, they've come from afar. 

Now we're at tea with Tillotson and Tucker, 

Wise, Whipple, Ward, Woods, Wood-^« Williams we mutter. 

And the last in our group is found in Dickens, short song, 

A hope that his memory might ever be Young. 

Thus showing you round, in front, left, and right, 

We hope you'll enjoy yourselves hugely to-night, 

And that never, down all of life's checkered lane. 

May we sigh that these hours were hours spent in vain." 



I return once more to the year 1865. On the i6th of 
September of that year was organized, at Crown Point, 



PROGRESS. 135 

the Lake County Sunday School Convention, an organ- 
ization which is yet living, and accomplished much, 
it is to be hoped, in promoting the moral culture of the 
young. Judge Ball, of Cedar Lake, was its first Presi- 
dent, and continued to act as such, until, failing health 
laid him aside from active life. The convention holds 
each year, in the month of August, an anniversary meet- 
ing, which meetings have been largely attended and are 
very interesting. 

In 1868, James H. Ball having been appointed School 
Examiner, held the Institute. 

His first circular is placed here for preservation, and 
to show the progress now made. 



"THIRD ANNUAL TEACHERS' INSTITUTE OF LAKE 

COUNTY 
Will be held at Crown Point, commencing August 31, 1868, and con- 
tinue five days. Classes and exercises will be conducted daily as follows: 

Orthography and Reading. 

English Grammar. — W. W. Cheshire, former Principal of Crown 
Point Graded School. 

Physical and Desaiptive Geography and Physiology. — Miss S. J. 
Walker, of Orleans, Indiana. 

History. — Mrs. B. B. Cheshire. 

Mathematics and Analysis of Langtiage. — President T. H. Ball, 
of Crown Point Institute. 

Political Geography. — T. J. Wood, Esq. 

Ettglish Composition and Rhetoric. — Mrs. L. G. Bedell. 

Calisthenics. — Miss C. A. Jackson. 

Pentnanship. — Miss M. J. Ball. 

The following lecturers are expected to be in attendance : J. B. 
Hoag, M. D., of Knox, Indiana ; A. S. Cutler, D. D. S., of Kanka- 
kee City, Illinois ; W. Mendenhall, of Chicago, and others, giving 
a course of eight lectures." 



136 LAKE COUNTY. 

While educational interests were thus striding onward 
and some of the educators were endeavoring to promote 
literary culture, although population was not increasing 
so rapidly as between '50 and '60, our towns were grow- 
ing up at a rate unknown before ; Lowell, without a 
railroad. Crown Point, and Hobart, and Dyer with 
railroad facilities, were erecting good buildings and 
sending off large amounts of produce; and the year '69 
closed upon a region that had made a long stride in 
educational, social, and material progress. 



BURIAL PLACES. I37 



CHAPTER VII. 

BURIAL PLACES. 

Different nations and tribes have devised differ- 
ent ways for disposing of the bodies of their dead. 
Some have embahned them. Some have burned them 
and then preserved the ashes in an urn. Some have ex- 
posed them on scaffolds or heights that the flesh might be 
consumed by birds. Others have left them more or less 
exposed to be devoured by hyenas and other ravenous 
beasts. And still others have buried them as securely as 
possible within the earth. 

The manner of disposing of the bodies of the dead 
marks the kind of civilization which a nation has at- 
tained. The practice of burning, though existing among 
nations of ancient civilization, is now called " barba- 
rous." 

Dr. Shaw says, of the present burying places of the 
East, which is the most populous portion of the globe, 
■" They occupy a large space, a great extent of ground 
being allotted for the purpose. Each family has a por- 
tion of it walled in like a garden, where the bones of 
its ancestors have remained undisturbed for many gen- 
erations. For in these inclosures the graves are all dis- 
tinct and separate ; each of them having a stone placed 
upright, both at the head and feet, inscribed with the 



138 LAKE COUNTY. 

name or title of the deceased, whilst the intermediate 
space is either planted with flowers, bordered round with 
stone, or paved with tiles." Kitto, page 359. Such 
cemeteries would indicate civilization. 

I propose in this chapter to name ours, and briefljr 
note their condition ; considering that they belong to our 
progress and our civilization. 

I WEST CREEK TOWNSHIP. 

1. A very retired, quiet resting-place over West Creek, 
on the Fuller place, where the dead of that neighborhood 
have been buried. Not fenced by itself nor deeded tO' 
trustees ; but well cared for. 

2. The Hayden Burial Place. Now West Creek. Not 
deeded. Protected. 

3. The Methodist Church Burial Ground, near the 
bridge. Cared for, but too small. 

4. Old Burial Ground near the Wilkinson place. Only 
some six graves. Private property. No special care, 
but not disturbed. 

5. The Sanders Burial Ground. Probably not deeded 
to the public, but protected. 

6. The Belshaw family ground, now owned by S. R. 
Tarr. Ought to be deeded to the County Commission- 
ers. It is enclosed, contains some fine, large evergreens, 
but there is no security that it will remain undisturbed, 
and the dust of one of Lake Prairie's loveliest daughters, 
with several other once loved forms, is there reposing. 

7. Lake Prairie Burial Ground. This is large, well 
protected and cared for ; is on a sightly eminence, one of 
the best located cemeteries in the county. I can find no 
deed of this ground to trustees on record. It ought to 
be thus deeded. 



BURIAL PLACES. I39 

II CEDAR CREEK TOWNSHIP. 

1. Lowell Cemetery. Fenced, cared for, and well 
filled with graves. Needs a gate. 

2. Orchard Grove Burial Place. Well kept. 

3. Tinkerville or Cedar Lake Cemetery. This is pro- 
tected, is used as a public burial place, but is private 
property on the land of A. D. Palmer. It ought to be 
deeded to Trustees, or the Commissioners. 

Ill EAGLE CREEK TOWNSHIP. 

1. Plum Grove Cemetery. Private as to ownership; 
public as to use. Needs fencing. 

2. South East Grove Cemetery. Is near the school 
house, near where a church should be built ; is fenced 
and deeded. It contains one of the finest gray marble 
monuments in the county, erected to the memory of Otto 
F. Benjamin, a very promising young man, who died 
suddenly, at the school house where he was teaching, in 
187 1. Only two burials at South East Grove up to the 
year 1843. 

IV WINFIELD TOWNSHIP. 

1. Deer Creek Cemetery, near the school house. This 
place of burial, used for many years, seems to be prop- 
erly kept. 

2. Old Burial Ground at Hickory Point. 

V ROSS TOWNSHIP. 

1. Cemetery at Ross. 

2. Cemetery at Merrillville. 

3. Family burial place at Deep River. This is, per- 
haps, the oldest in the county, having been first used in 
1836. . These are cared for. 



140 LAKE COUNTY. 

4. An old burial place near the Wilkinson Ford of 
Deep River, from which some bodies have been removed, 
but where many yet remain. This old spot is now part 
of a cultivated field. It seems a pity that the little 
ground required to receive the dust of human forms may 
not remain undisturbed. This spot ought yet to be res- 
cued from the plowshire, consecrated, as it has been, by 
the burial of old settlers ; or the human remains there 
resting should be removed to a quiet cemetery which is 
sacred to repose. 

5. A cemetery near the Joliet road, between Deep 
River and Merrillville. Tolerably protected. 

6. Ground on the farm of W. T. Dennis contains some 
thirty graves. Here were buried many old settlers, as 
the Beebers, Dustins, Sturdeyvants, Clevelands, and oth- 
ers. Has not been used for burial purposes for five or 
six years. It ought to be protected and secured against 
desecration. 

VI HOBART TOWNSHIP. 

1. Catholic Cemetery at Lake. 

2. Protestant Cemetery at Lake; laid out in 187 1. 
Unused at this date. 

3. Hobart Cemetery. All these are properly cared for 
and kept. 

4. An old burial ground that has been used for thirty 
years, south of Hobart, on a farm formerly owned by Wm. 
Banks. This is private property, the right of use for 
burial purposes being reserved when deeded by W. 
Banks, but not the land itself. It ought to be sur- 
rounded by a fence, as it is located in a road-side 
pasturage. 



BURIAL PLACES. I4I 

VII — ST, John's township. 

1. Hack Family Cemetery. A beautiful situation. 

2. St. John's Cemetery. 

3. Dyer Cemetery. 

These, as consecrated grounds, are protected and kept 
in order. 

4. An old burial place east of Shererville, on the east 
end of the sand ridge. Not protected by any fence, 
probably deeded to no trustees. It is Protestant ground, 
and shows neglect. The neighborhood interested ought 
at once to secure, by a suitable fence, this place, where 
for so many years their dead were buried. 

VIII HANOVER TOWNSHIP. 

1. A burial place on the west side of West Creek. The 
ground belongs to the public, although undeeded, as it 
lies on a portion of land set apart for a highway, other 
land for the highway having been purchased beside it. 
This cemetery has been sadly neglected. It is the last 
resting-place of the remains of some old and highly re- 
spected citizens and deserves far better care. 

2. The family cemetery of H. Sasse, Sen. This is 
well kept. 

3. A little knoll near Cedar Lake, originally claimed 
by S. Russell, has been consecrated by occasional bur- 
ials since the spring of 1837. The body of a little 
daughter of Solomon Russell, drowned in an unfinished 
well, was the first one there committed tc the dust. A 
young Norwegian passing through this region, taken sick 
and dying at the Cox place, away from all friends and 
kindred, buried in December, 1837, was the second to 
find there a resting-place. Since then many residents 

12 



142 LAKE COUNTY. 

near Cedar Lake, have, during the past years, been added 
to those slumberers. This knoll, by right, belongs to an 
uncle of that Norwegian, a man of intelligence and 
wealth, who came out from the city of New York many 
months afterwards, found the house in which his nephew 
died, the spot where he was buried, and who for that 
spot of ground paid Solomon Russell five dollars, the 
value then of four acres of land. H. Sasse, Sen., and 
myself have a knowledge of that purchase. John Meyer^ 
of Hanover, is the present legal owner of this land ; and 
I take the liberty to suggest that he ought, in considera- 
tion of its ancient purchase, and of its use for so many 
years as a place of burial, to deed the few rods in this 
little wooded knoll to the County Commissioners, that it 
may, in the language of the Statutes of Indiana, " be ded- 
icated as a public burying place forever." 

4. Hanover Centre Cemetery, consecrated ; belonging 
to the Church of St. Martin. 

5. A cemetery connected with the German Methodist 
Church. 

IX CENTRE TOWNSHIP. 

1. Old Burying Ground. 

2. Crown Point Cemetery. 

3. Crown Point New Cemetery. 

4. East Cedar Lake. 

5. Old County-farm Cemetery. 

Not one of these, I am sorry to make such a record, is 
cared for as it should be, except the new cemetery. The 
idea of removing the dead from place to place, not al- 
lowing even their bones to rest in peace, and the idea of 
leaving graves unprotected, or of running the plow-share 



BURIAL PLACES. I45 

over them, seem to me alike to do violence to the better 
impulses of our hearts ; and I express here the hope 
that my fellow-citizens, in the different parts of the 
county, in other respects so considerate, so humane in 
feeling, so noble in disposition, so cultivated and intelli- 
gent, will awaken to a just sense of what, in regard to our 
thirty-eight burial places, their own civilization demands 
at their hands. 

The metropolis of Great Britain comprises Westmin- 
ster, London proper, and Southwark. The first two 
places, once a mile apart, are on one side of the Thames, 
and the last on the other side. In contrast with the 
burials in Westminster Abbey, where so many of the 
great and some of the good of England have been buried, 
a writer says : " Bunhill Fields is out of doors, a little 
plat of four acres in the heart of the great city, as plain 
and unpretending as a country church-yard. Yet it has 
a history as replete with interest as the more splendid 
depository of royalty and genius." One hundred and 
twenty thousand are said to have been buried in that 
city cemetery. Among them are John Bunyan, Daniel 
DeFoe, and Dr. Isaac Watts. In another cemetery 
across the street lie the remains of John Wesley. His 
mothers's dust reposes in Bunhill Fields, where also lie 
the remains of George Fox, the Quaker; of T. Fowell 
Buxton, the philanthropist, and of multitudes of others 
of renowned and unknown men. 

When, one hundred years hence. Lake county having 
become densely populated, a large suburban town having 
spread out for miles around the present growing village, 
there will be no ancient, quiet church-yards into which 



144 LAKE COUNTY. 

observing travelers, and meditative poets, and studious 
antiquarians may enter and find the resting places of 
the noted ones of this generation, unless we change the 
present custom, and the prevailing popular taste. In 
view of the growth, and the love of researcVi and medi- 
tation, which we may surely look for three generations 
hence, I earnestly recommend to the citizens of Crown 
Point, to purchase and fence the Old Cemetery — it is in 
a very good situation for a quiet summer morning retreat 
for thought and solitude — and set it apart as the resting 
place of the slumberers who are there, " forever," 
until the dead themselves shall awake. Then I earn- 
estly entreat that they let the second one remain, re- 
fence it, and care for it, and let the two hundred sleep- 
ing bodies that arc there sleep 07i. Let that once ani- 
mated and honored dust lie where sorrowing friends, 
absent and scattered now, laid it away to rest. It is 
poor civilization to be continually moving the bones and 
ashes of the dead. Let the generations of the future see 
the very places where our bodies are moldering to the 
dust. 



TOWNS AND VILLAGES. 145 



CHAPTER VIII. 

TOWNS AND VILLAGES. 

Leaving the resting places of the dead, and returning 
again to the abodes of the living, I present, in this chap- 
ter, a glance at the centres of business life, the villages, 
and the towns. They are arranged neither in the order 
of age or size ; but partly in the order in which some of 
them were visited ; and, partly, with the design of pre- 
senting as much variety as is practicable. 

BRUNSWICK — 1858. 

This village is in Hanover Township, on the Avest side 
of West Creek, ten miles from Crown Point, nearly due 
west of the head of Cedar Lake. It was commenced by 
the location of a store, near the corner, in 1858. It 
contains eighteen families; one store, at which is sold 
annually some twelve thousand dollars worth of goods ; 
two blacksmiths' shops ; two wagon shops ; two masons ; 
one carpenter ; one shoemaker ; one harness maker, one 
physician, a homoepathist ; and one horse doctor. It also 
has a two-story school building, which cost twelve hun- 
dred dollars ; and a manufacturing establishment of 
water elevators. It contains the residences of H. C. 
Beckman, late County Commissioner ; of Dr. C. Gro- 
man, J. H. Irish, J. Schmal, and A. Farwell. It seems 



146 LAKE COUNTY. 

to be prosperous, but not growing rapidly. It has no 
church building. 

HANOVER CENTRE 1856. 

This is east of Brunswick two miles, and eight miles 
southwest from Crown Point. It dates as a village back 
to about 1856. It contains ten families, one store, one 
wagon shop, cme blacksmith's shop, one shoemaker, one 
carpenter, one dressmaker, and two saloons. It is the 
seat of the Church of St. Martin, belonging to which are 
five acres of land and a cemetery. 

KLAASVILLE 1860. 

This little village is pleasantly situated on the " Grand 
Prairie," about half a mile from the Illinois line, south 
and west from Brunswick, distant from Crown Point 
about twelve miles. It is near the summit of a slight 
elevation in the prairie, from whence one may look far 
away into the apparently boundless regions of Illinois. 
The village was founded by H. Khaas, who settled there 
in 1850, the first German in that vicinity. Here is lo- 
cated the Church of St. Anthony, erected in i860, con- 
nected with which is a cemetery ; and settled near are 
some ten or fifteen families, in the village proper about 
ten. Here is one store, and a school house ; also a black- 
smith, a carpenter, a wagon maker, a shoemaker, and a 
tailor. It is a quiet, thrifty, healthful place. 

TINKERVILLE 1850. 

The locality which bears this name, lying a little south- 
east of Cedar Lake, and distant from Crown Point about 
seven miles, is not a compact village. A store, and post 
office, and a blacksmith shop are near each other, and a 
few rods away are four dwelling houses. The school 



TOWNS AND VILLAGES I47 

house is half a mile distant, on one of four corners, and 
within a circle of three quarters of a mile are ten other 
families. As a centre for evening and Sabbath gather- 
ings, for schools and religious meetings, it is equal to a 
village of twenty families. 

Here reside the descendants of the first settlers, on the 
east side of Cedar Lake, with other families who have 
settled among them, and nearly every family in this 
neighborhood is connected by ties of blood, or by mar- 
riage and intermarriage. 

This settlement reached the village form about 1850. 
The Cedar Lake Baptist Church removed their .meetings 
from the west side to the old School House in this place, 
and transferred the location of their Sabbath School at 
about this time, probably in 1849. Religious meetings 
have been held there, in the name of the Cedar Lake 
Church, by Elders Hunt, McKay, Brayton, Hitchcock, 
Whitehead, and Steadman, and thus this locality became 
the second Baptist centre in Lake County. No church 
edifice was erected; that church organization dissolved, 
and nothing remains to Tinkerville of that part of the 
past, except the Cedar Lake Sabbath School, one of the 
oldest organizations of its kind in the county. This 
locality is in Cedar Creek Township. It contains a cem- 
etery. The store, blacksmith's shop, and post office have 
been already mentioned. Familiar names here are A. 
D. Palmer, Alfred Edgerton, Amasa Edgerton, and 
Obadiah Taylor. The McCarty family resided here for 
many years ; B. McCarty, the father, and Smiley, Wil- 
liam, Franklin, F. Asbury, Morgan, and Jonathon, the 
sons. One of these, Fayette Asbury McCarty, go- 



148 LAKE COUNTY. 

ing forth from Tinkerville, became the greatest traveler 
Lake has ever reared. He went into the Far West, 
beyond the Rocky Mountains, about twenty years ago. 
The maiden whom he had chosen to become his wife, fell 
with others a victim to Indian border strife just before 
the time set for their marriage. Lone in heart, he 
engaged for three years, in warfare against the Indians ; 
was four times wounded by them ; killed with his own 
hand twenty-one of the Red Wariors who had burned 
the dwelling, and killed the whole family of her whorn he 
loved. Like Logan, the Mingo, against the whites, he 
could say, "I have killed many\'' and then he com- 
menced his wanderings. He went among the mines; he 
went up into Alaska, then Russian America; he went 
down into South America; he crossed the ocean — the 
Pacific; spent some time in China; visited the Sandwich 
Islands on his return ; made money among the mines ; 
and after fourteen years' absence, visited, some six or 
seven years ago, the haunts of his youth in Lake county. 
He found here some old friends; narrated to us his 
adventures; went to New York to take passage again for 
the mines ; was taken sick, and died soon after reaching 
the gold region at Idaho. Successful in obtaining gold, 
noble in disposition, lonely in heart in the sad romance 
of his life, he leaves his name and memory to be carefully 
treasured up by the friends of his boyhood at Cedar 
Lake. I am glad to place here on record this brief 
tribute to the memory of our greatest traveler — F. 
Asbury McCarty. 

TOLLESTON 1 85 7. 

Number of families, 80 ; population, 400 ; distance 



TOWNS AND VILLAGES. I49 

from Crown Point, eighteen miles, on the P. & F.W. R. R. 
The men for the most part work on the railroad. The 
company pay out here, per month, about $2000. Stores, 
4; carpenters, 3 ; blacksmith, i ; shoemaker, i. This is 
a Lutheran village. It contains a Lutheran Church and 
parsonage, a good school house, and a few miles distant 
is a Chicago Club House. This is a neat looking build- 
ing of wood, near the Calumet, erected by a company of 
sportsmen in Chicago, who occupy it as a boarding house 
country seat. The house and grounds have a city like 
appearance. Not far west of Tolleston, near the 
crossing of the Fort Wayne road and the Calumet,. 
is said to be the highest sand hill around Lake Michi- 
gan. The wells in Tolleston are shallow, the soil very 
sandy, and the water not very cold. It is surface water. 
The number of families given here includes the suburbs. 
CLARK — 1858. 
On Fort Wayne railroad. Number of families, 16; 
distant from Crown Point, 16 miles. Contains two ice 
houses, one hotel, and a school house. The principal in- 
dustry is putting up and shipping ice. 

MILLER, 

On Michigan Southern Railroad ; a station ; number of 
families, 12. Contains a little grocery store, and school 
house. Distant from Crown Point, about 20 miles. 

WHITNEY. 

A station on Michigan Southern Railroad. Contains 
15 families. No business except railroad work. Distant 
from Crown Point, some 20 miles. 

Gibson's station — 1850. 

On Michigan Central Railroad. Families, 4 ; no busi- 



150 LAKE COUNTY. 

ness. Distant from Crown Point, 17 miles. Distant from 
Hessville, one mile. 

PINE. 

A station on Michigan Southern Railroad. Families, 
4. Distant from Crown Point, 20 miles. 

STATE LINE SLAUGHTER HOUSE. 

On Michigan Central Railroad. Miles from Crown 

Point, 20. One store ; one boarding house for workmen. 

The Slaughter House employs some eighteen men ; ship 

three or four cars daily to Boston, loaded with beef, 

packed in ice. 

CASSELLO — 1858. 

A station on Pittsburg & Fort Wayne Railroad. Very 

few families. Nearly destroyed by fire last fall. 

CASSVILLE. 

This place owes its existence to the Pittsburg, Cincin- 
nati and St. Louis Railway. A grain house, a hay press, 
a store, and three dwelling houses comprise the buildings 
on this ground. The location was not favorable for the 
growth of a town ; and some slight friction somewhere, 
preventing the opening of roads and the sale of town 
lots, has apparently retarded a growth that might have 
taken place. Cassville is about half way between Crown 
Point and Hebron, or six miles from Crown Point, in 
Eagle Creek Township, one of the youngest and smallest 
of all our villages. Yet its enterprising merchant, A 
Edgerton, does considerable business ; a fair amount of 
grain is there bought and shipped by Z. F. Summers ; 
near it reside J. Q. Benjamin, the McLaran family, and 
a few others ; and around it lie lands owned by some 
wealthy non-residents. Dr. Cass, of Porter, and Judge 
Niles, of La Porte. 



TOWNS AND VILLAGES. I51 

LAKE STATION 1852. 

Number of families, 40 ; dry goods stores, 2 ; grocery- 
stores, 3; blacksmith's shops, 2; railroad blacksmith's shop, 
I ; wagon shop, i ; saloons, 5 ; shoemaker's shop, i ; wind 
water elevators, for railroad, 2 ; boarding houses, 5 ; 
basket maker, i ; meat market, i. It contains also one 
■church, and one school house, the Audubon Hotel, 
large and roomy, and an engine house. Most of the in- 
habitants are connected with the railroad. The depot 
grounds are the largest and most tastefully laid out of any 
in the county. There are many neat looking buildings. 
Soil, sandy. Distant from Crown Point, 15 miles. 
HESsviLLE — 1858. 

Joseph Hess, the proprietor of this village, settled in 
1850, and kept cattle. Store opened about 1858. Fami- 
lies now here, 20. One store, one blacksmith's shop. The 
families here live by cutting wood, picking berries, and 
working on railroad. There are two carpenters. Hess- 
ville contains a school house in which are instructed 
some seventy scholars. A Sabbath School has been 
opened there this season, numbering thirty members, and 
Lutheran meetings are also held at the school house. 
This village is distant from Gibson's Station, one mile ; 
and from Crown Point, 16 miles. A good grazing region 
is near Hessville, and some inhabitants live near the vil- 
lage, but the most of North Township is as yet sparsely 
inhabited. 

DEEP RIVER 1838. 

This place is the home of John Wood, whose name 
appears among the records of the early settlers. No 
lots were ever laid out and sold, as the proprietor here, 



152 LAKE COUNTY. 

who had paid one thousand dollars for the quarter sec- 
tion, it being an Indian reservation, patented to Quash- 
ma, saw no other way successfully to keep out strong 
drink. It has therefore contained no saloon, and has 
formed a pleasant home for the Wood family, and a few 
others. 

The present number of families is fourteen. It con- 
tains one store, owned by Augustus Wood, a saw mill 
and grist mill, conducted by Nathan Wood, a physician, 
Dr. Vincent, son-in-law of John Wood, a blacksmith's, 
shop, and a shoemaker's shop. It did contain a very good 
school house, which was consumed by fire and has not 
been rebuilt. 

The residence of Nathan Wood is of brick, very sub- 
stantially built, and is one of the most city-like dwelling 
houses in the county. The saw mill here was erected in 
1837; and the grist mill, in 1838. Deep River village 
joins the Porter County line, and its location as a mill 
seat has been very desirable. For years there was no 
other grist mill in the two counties. Distance from 
Crown Point, 10 miles. 

CENTREVILLE 1 842. 

At Wiggins Point, near the present village of Centre- 
ville, was formerly an Indian village. The old burial 
ground and dancing ground still remain on the place 
now owned by E. Saxton. White settlers came here in 
1835 and 1836, but I place the date of the commencement 
of the village when Miles Pierce built the first tavern here, 
and pouring out a bottle of whisky or breaking it upon 
the frame, after the manner of naming ships, called it 
" Centreville Hotel." Well would it have been for that 



TOWNS AND VILLAGES. 153 

village and many others, if all the whisky had gone the 
same way. 

This village now contains twenty-three families, two 
taverns, and a two story brick school house, which is 
used for Sabbath school and for Religious meetings. It 
has no church. It has a store, blacksmith's shop, wagon 
shop, harness shop, a milliner, dress-maker, tailoress, two 
shoemakers, a sale stable, and one saloon. The post 
office is named Merrillville. The Indian name of the 
place was McGwinn's Village. McGwinn here lived, 
died, and was buried. The first settlers retained few 
Indian names. Distance from Crown Point, six miles. 
ROSS — 1857. 

Forty acres of land are here laid out in town lots, all 
south of the railroad. Many lots are yet unimproved. 
The village lies on the Joliet Cut-Off, on which road it 
is a station. Number of families, 13. Store, i ; black- 
smith, I ; shoemaker, i ; carpenter's shop, i ; plasterer, 
I ; saloon, none. This place is the residence of Amos 
Hornor, Esq., an early settler near Cedar Lake, who has 
here a clothes drier factory in successful operation, the 
machine being patented and of his own invention. 
Many families in the county have been supplied with 
these very useful machines. 

There has also resided here for the last twelve years, 
Rev. George A. Woodbridge, who settled near A. 
Humphrey's, in the eastern part of Winfield, in 1839, 
and who spent two or three years in Crown Point. A 
native of Connecticut, a graduate of Yale, a New Eng- 
land Congregationalist, he has spent these years in almost 
entire seclusion from the busy and the religious world. 



154 LAKE COUNTY. 

He has a large library — large for this region — and his 
books and periodicals have kept him well informed. In 
October he will be eighty years of age, and retains the 
use well of his senses and faculties, working in his gar- 
den with as much apparent activity as a man of sixty. 

Ross is on a ridge of sand. The woods around abound 
in huckleberries, and some of the marshes in cranberries. 

It is not a place of much business. It contains a 
school house, but no church. The wells are dug here, 
not driven. The water is partly soft, and is quite cold 
and good. Depth of wells from twelve to twenty-two 
feet. Distance of Ross from Crown Point, eight miles. 

ROBERTSDALE STATION. 

This is a small place of four or five families, on the 
Michigan Southern Railroad. No business done. 
ST. JOHNS — 1846. 

Number of families, 27. One store, i tavern, i dress- 
make, 2 wagon shops, 2 blacksmiths' shops, 2 tailors, 3 
carpenters, and 4 shoemakers. Distance from Crown 
Point, six miles. This is a Catholic village. Its one 
store does a large business. Prairie West, of which it is 
the business and religious centre, is thickly settled up 
with an industrious, thrifty, prospering German Catholic 
population. Near this village the first German family 
of the county settled; and not far from it, on a beautiful 
elevation in the prairie, the Hack family cemetery, con- 
taining one of the finest gray marble monuments in the 
county, arrests the eye of the traveler. In this village is 
the large brick Church of St. John, the Evangelist, with 
other church buildings, and here, on the Sabbath morn- 
ings, gathers the largest congregation in Lake county. 



TOWNS AND VILLAGES. 155 

There are here some good, substantial dwelling houses, 
and many of the farm houses on the prairie are neat and 
tasty. Many evidences appear of the abundance and 
wealth of this community, of the existence and the prac- 
tice of patient industry. All over Prairie West, once so 
destitute of fence, and house, and orchard, and grove, 
are seen its results. 

SHERERVILLE 1 866. 

Miles from Crown Point, 7 ; number of families, 27 ; 

stores, 2 ; shoemakers, 2 ; saloons, 2 ; shippers of live 

stock, 2 ; a tin and hardware store, and of the following 

tiades one each: Carpenter, tailor, cooper, plasterer, 

saddler ; also, one contractor, and one physician, one grain 

warehouse, and a lumber yard. This village has grown 

up rapidly. It has a thrifty appearance. It is on the 

sand, and wells are obtained by "driving." The water 

is quite good, 

LIVERPOOL — 1836. 

In 1835 or 1836 a company of three men, John C. 
Davis and Henry Frederickson, of Philadelphia, and 
John B. Chapman, a Western man, obtained an Indian 
float located on the Calumet, and laid out town lots for 
the founding of a western city. The location was con- 
sidered to be favorable, at the head of boat navigation 
on the Calumet, and on the great route of travel. 

In 1836 a sale of lots took place, and the sales, in three 
days, amounted to ^16,000. J. Wood and a friend 
bought lots to the amount of $2,000. A deed of nine of 
these lots, made out by J. B. Niles, as attorney, and 
acknowledged by Samuel C. Sample, the first Judge of 
Circuit Court in this region, is preserved among other 



156 LAKE COUNTY. 

papers at Deep River. In 1834 or 1835, a ferry boat 
was placed on the Calumet at Liverpool, and a hotel was 
there opened in 1835. The location of this town was 
about three miles westward and north from the present 
town of Hobart. 

In 1836 George Earl, of Falmouth, England, then from 
Philadelphia, came with his family to Liverpool, and soon 
became the proprietor of all that region. He resided in 
Liverpool until 1847. For about nine months, probably 
in 1837, the stage route from Detroit to Chicago passed 
through this place. Also for six months, in 1837, a line 
of stages was run from Michigan City to Joliet. This 
line, not paying, was discontinued. The other was 
changed to the North Road. In 1837 the Pottawatomies, 
a powerful Indian tribe, passed through this place on 
their way to the more distant West. 

In 1838 — 1839 a charter was secured from the Legis- 
lature for a toll bridge. A store was opened here about 
1840. Few families, however, came. 

In 1839 Liverpool became the county seat of Lake 
county. A court house was erected and nearly com- 
pleted, but in 1840 a re-location took place ; Crown Point, 
or rather as it then was, Solon, Robinson's rival village, 
obtained the location, and this building was sold, floated 
down the Calumet to Blue Island, and set up in 1846, for 
a tavern. "And with it," writes Solon Robinson, "has 
gone almost the last hope of a town at that place." 

In 1847, the Earle family removed to what has since 
become the flourishing town of Hobart. At present two 
families reside at the old Liverpool site, and two others 
at the railroad crossing not far away. 



TOWNS AND VILLAGES. 157 

INDIANA CITY 1836. 

This was another of our early towns. I have been 
■ unable to find out exactly when it was commenced, but 
give it this date, as this was the era of western specula- 
tion, and four little places on Lake Michigan were about 
this time struggling for an existence. These were Chi- 
cago, Indiana City, City West, and Michigan City. The 
first was in Illinois, the second in Lake County, the third 
in Porter, the fourth in La Porte. To them might well 
be added the fifth — Liverpool, on the Calumet. And I 
have no hesitation in saying that no ordinary foresight of 
man could then, or did then, see much difference in their 
chances for success. Indiana City was laid out by a 
company from Columbus, Ohio. It was truly a " paper 
city." It was sold in 1841, for $14,000. As for inhabi- 
tants, I find no record that it ever had any. All these 
five places may be found on Colton's map of Indiana, 
compiled from " authentic sources," published in 1853. 
Of the four on the beach of the lake, Michigan City is 
now quite a place among its ever changing sand banks ; 
Chicago has become indeed a city ; City West ceased to 
be in about 1839, and Indiana City, except on paper, and 
as shown by laid out lots, never was. An Indian half- 
breed states that eighty-six years ago traders had a fur 
station at Liverpool. In less than half as many years to 
come there may be an Indiana City at the mouth of the 
old Calumet, exceeding in size and wealth all the exist- 
. ing towns and villages of Lake. Late explorations of the 
Calumet river serve to show that, as a location, it is favor- 
ably situated for the growth at some day of a commercial 
emporium. 
13 



158 LAKE COUNTY. 

DYER — 1857. 

This village is dated as commencing with the first 
store. Two or three houses were here many years be- 
fore, and a tavern in 1837, or earlier. Present number of 
families, 50. 

Dyer contains a large flouring mill, a grain house, — 
and it has the name of being the best grain market in the 
county — a lumber yard, a sash, door and blind factory, 
a wooden shoe factory, and a tannery ; grocery, and 
dry goods stores, 2 ; taverns, 3 ; shoemakers, 2 ; furniture 
stores, 2 ; physicians, 2 ; builder, i ; wagon shop, i ; 
blacksmiths, 2 ; tinsmith, i ; butcher, i ; harness maker, 
I ; saloons, 4. 

A fine Catholic Church and parsonage have been 
erected here, and there are two school houses. A. N, 
Hart, now doing business in Chicago, one of the large 
land owners of Lake county, resided here for many 
years with his family, and has done considerable to im- 
prove and build up the town. Dubriels' flouring mill at 
this place has done a good business. 

Thorn Creek, a pretty little Illinois stream, enters this 
county at Dyer, but after winding about for a short dis- 
tance, returns again to the lower prairie lands of Illi- 
nois. 

HOHART — 1849. 

Number of families, 95 ; dry goods stores, 4 ; hard- 
ware, I ; drug store, i ; furniture, 1 ; agricultural imple- 
ments, I ; bakery, i : blacksmiths' shops, 2 ; wagon shop, 
; ; harness shop, i ; shoe store, i ; shoemakers' shops, 3 ; 
cooi)er's shop, i ; millinery store, i ; dress makers, 4 ; 
mill Wright, i ; lawyer, i : physicians, 3 ; carpenters, 3 ; 



TOWNS AND VILLAGES. 159 

plasterer, i ; livery stable, i ; gardener, i ; notary publics, 
2; hotels, 3 ; large flouring mill, i. 

Hobart contains ten brick buildings. It has a brick 
school house, a frame church, a brick church, and an art 
gallery. This gallery, the property of Geo. Earle, now of 
Philadelphia, contains about three hundred paintings. It 
is the only collection of the kind in the county, and has 
been visited by many admirers of the fine arts. It reflects 
much credit upon the taste of the cultivated and wealthy 
proprietor of this town. 

ORGANIZATIONS IN HOBART. 

Hobart Literary Society, organized in 187 1 ; members, 
50; meets in Methodist Church, Tuesday evenings. 

M. L. McLellan Lodge, No. 357 ; members, 62; date 
of 1866. Value of property, $2000. 

Earle Lodge, I. O. O. F. Number ;^;^;^, date 1869. 
Value of property, ^looo. 

Hobart Real Estate and Building Company. Capital 
^3000. Dealers in real estate. W. H. Rifenburg & Co. 

BandAssociation ; members, 15; property, $500. 

Trotting Park Association ; capital, ^200. 

Hobart is located on the Pittsburg and Fort Wayne 
Railroad, and its great branch of industry is brickmaking. 
There are four yards which turn out of pressed brick per 
day some 60,000. These yards give employment to one 
hundred persons, and pay out per month to the work- 
men ^4000. 

The Railroad Company pays out monthly about $700. 
A wax candle factory has also been started at Hobart, 
which promises success. This factory, and the brick 
yards, and the art gallery, showing useful arts and fine 
arts, are well worth visiting. 



l6o LAKE COUNTY. 

There seems to be in Hobart the atmosphere of a city, 
It has changed remarkably from what it was in earlier 
days. Population now 500. Distant from Crown Point, 
twelve miles. 

John G. Earle has erected here a fine dwelling house 
and makes this place his home. The senator of Lake and 
Porter counties, Hon. C. R. Wadge, also resides at Ho- 
bart. 

LOWELL — 1852. 

M. A. Halsted, who, with his wife and mother, came 
into this county from Dayton, Ohio, in 1845, and settled 
on a farm in West Creek Township, is the proper founder 
of the town of Lowell. 

According to the Claim Register, one John P. Hoff, of 
New York City, purchased " Mill seat on Cedar Creek," 
Range 9, Town 33, Section 23, which is the section on 
which Lowell now stands, Oct. 7th, 1836. He registered 
his claim October 8th, and also claims for four others 
from New York City were registered the same day^in 
sections 22, 23 and 24. None of these city men seem to 
have actually settled ; instead of these I find the names of 
Wm. A. Purdy, H. R. Nichols, J. Mendenhall, and Jabez 
Clark. But the " mill seat " remained unimproved till 
about 1850. It is a somewhat singular coincidence that 
the first claimant of a mill seat on Sect. 23, T. 33, R. 9, 
should have been named Halstead. According to the 
claim register, Samuel Halstead first entered here " Tim- 
ber and Mill-seat." The claim was made August, 1835, 
and was registered November 26, 1836. There is added, 
" This claim was sold to and registered by J. P. Hoff, 
October 8, who has not comi)lied with his contract, and 



TOWNS AND VILLAGES. l6l 

therefore forfeits his claim to it." And under date of 
November 29, 1836, the record is "Transferred to James 
M. Whitney and Mark Burroughs for $212." 

Number of families, 106; dry-goods stores, 4; drug 
stores, 2 ; hardware stores, 2 ; millinery establishments, 
2 ; dress makers, 2 ; jeweler, i ; shoemaker's shops, 2 ; 
barber's shops, 2; harness shop, i ; blacksmith's shops, 5 ; 
wagon shops, 3 ; cooper shop, i ; meat market, i ; bakery, 
I ; cabinet shop, i ; agricultural store, i ; saloons, 2 ; pho- 
tograph gallery, i ; livery stable, i ; hotels, 2 ; notary pub- 
lics, 2 ; attorney i ; physicians, 4 ; cigar factory, i ; 
churches, 3. 

The flouring mill at this place does a large custom 
work and sends oif quite an amount of flour. It has two 
runs of stone, and grinds in the spring time some 275 
bushels of feed per day, and in a good season, 150 bush- 
els of wheat on a single run of stone. Lepin and West- 
erman are the enterprising proprietors. A large factory 
building has been erected at this place at a cost of $Sooo. 
It is three stories high, 80 feet by 50, of brick, and is the 
largest building in the county. 

The school house at Lowell is also of brick, a large 
two-story building, the largest and best furnished school 
house in the county. Cost of house and furniture i|8,ooo. 
Both of these buildings were erected under the superin- 
tendence of M. A. Halsted. All of the churches in this 
town are of brick. Whole number of brick buildings 
eight. A printing ofiice has been established here this 
year, which publishes the l^ozuell Star, edited by E, 
R. Beebe. 



l62 LAKE COUNTY. 

ASSOCIATIONS. 

Colfax Lodge — Masonic; number 378; members, 60. 
Value of property, $1600. 

Lowell Lodge L O. O. F. ; number 245 ; members, 60. 

Temperance Lodge No. 22, Independent Order Good 
Templars. Members 160, and increasing quite rapidly. 

Lowell Grange of Patrons of Husbandry, No. 6. Mem- 
bers 80. 

The first store, and first tavern in the place were 
opened by J. Thorn, about 1852. It has now a growth of 
about twenty years. Its water power is good, supplied by 
three different ponds. Cedar Lake also being used as a 
water reservoir. It lacks an element which has so largely 
stimulated the growth of Hobart and Crown Point, rail- 
road communication with the world. Distance from 
Crown Point, eleven miles. It is located in the heart of 
the best farming region of Lake. Population of Lowell 
550. J. W. Viant and W. Sigler, have sold at this place 
large quantities of goods. 

CROWN POINT — 1840. 

The early history of this town has been already given, 
and the growth to which it had attained in 1847, has 
been mentioned. Its growth, until the railroad came, 
was slow. M. M. Mills built what is now called the 
Rockwell House, in 1842. Joseph Jackson removed 
from West Creek to Crown Point, in October, 1846, 
renting that house for five years. In 1847, he was elected 
Auditor, and his son-in-law, Z. P. Farley, came up to 
town and went into the hotel. In 1848, Wm. Alton built 
the brick store-house now occupied by Meyers & Bier- 
lin ; and, in 1849, Z. P. Farley and Clinton Jackson built 



TOWNS AND VILLAGES. 163 

the bakery, also of brick, in the upper room of which 
was the first office of the Register. These were the 
first business buildings built of brick. 

In 185 1, Z. P. Farley built the Hack House, and this 
hotel was kept by J. Jackson and Z. P. Farley, for the 
next five years. 

The present Court House bears the date of 1849 ; 
George Earle, architect; Jeremy Hixon, builder. 

In 1858, the following brick buildings were erected : 
The dwelling houses of Z. P. Farley, J. G. Hoffman, and 
J. Wheeler, and the three story building containing the 
Register office and Masonic Hall. The county offices 
were built the following year. The brick school house 
also bears the date of 1859. 

After the completion of the railroad, in 1865, good 
buildings went up quite rapidly. Dr. A. J. Pratt's resi- 
dence, erected in 1868, covers an area of two thousand, 
three hundred and twenty-eight feet, and cost nearly 
$5,000. This, and the Nicholson mansion, built in 1869, 
are the two most costl}^ dwelling houses as yet erected. 
The neat residences of J. H. Prier and W. Nicholson, the 
latter costing $4,000, were built in 1870. Among the 
more elegant dwellings erected in 1871, may be named 
the residences of F. S. Bedell, covering an area of two 
thousand and forty feet, costing about $4,000, and of Z. 
F. Summers, Judge Turner, and T. J. Wood, each- test- 
ing some $3,000. The new dwellings of Hon. Martin 
Wood and Major E. Griffin, the latter not yet finished, 
belong to the year 1872. 

In the spring of 1868 the town was duly incorporated, 
divided into three wards, and trustees and a marshal 



164 LAKE COUNTY. 

were elected by the citizens. Three School Trustees 
have the charge of the public schools. They employ 
four teachers at the " Brick," and two at the " Institute." 

Number of families in Crown Point, 293 : total popu- 
lation, 1300. Industrial and professional pursuits are 
represented thus : 

Lumber yards, 2 ; brick yard, i ; broom factory, i 
brewery, i ; agricultural stores, 4 ; dry goods stores, 2 
grocery stores, 3 ; general dealers, 3 ; merchant tailors, 2 
confection shops, 2 ; clothing store, i ; hardware stores 
2 ; drug stores, 2 ; milliner shops, 3 ; ladies' furnishing 
I ; harness shops, 2 ; bakeries, 2 ; furniture stores, 2 
shoe store, i ; shoe shops, 4 ; wagon shops, 3 ; tannery 

1 ; blacksmiths' shops, 5 ; railroad repair shop, i ; door 
sash, and blind factory, i ; planing mill, i; grain houses, 2 
hotels, 3 ; eating house, 1 ; jewelers and watchmakers, 2 
egg and poultry dealer, i ; carpenters, 14 ; plasterers, 6 
painters, 6 ; paint and oil store, i ; saloons, 8 ; photo- 
graph gallery, i ; meat markets, 2 ; hay barns and presses, 

2 ; cooper shop, 1; coal yard, i ; gunsmith, i ; tin shops, 2 ; 
school buildings, 3 ; church buildings, 6 ; county offi- 
cers residing in town, 6 ; clergymen in town, 6 ; newspa- 
pers published, 2 ; dentists, 2 ; practicing physicians, 4 ; 
lawyers, 13. 

ORGANIZATIONS. 

Lake Lodge, No. 157, F. & A. M. ; organized 1853; 
value of property, ^2500 ; number of members, 88. 

Lincoln Chapter, No. 53, R. A. M.; date, 1865 ; num- 
ber of members, 34; value of property, $1000. 

Crown Point Lodge, No. 195, I. O. O. F.; value of 
property, $750 ; number of members, 50. 



TOWNS AND VILLAGES. 165 

Grove City Encp,mpment, No. ii6, I. O. O. F. ; num- 
ber of members, 22; organized March 13, 1872. 

Crown Point Sing Verein ; organized in August, 1868 * 
number of members, 32 ; value of property, $1000. 

Crown Point Fire Company ; organized January i, 
1872 ; engine and hose owned by the town ; value, $2000 ; 
number of members, 40. 

Band Company; number of members, ir. 

SUMMARY. 

Number of towns and villages, 25. Number of fami- 
lies residing in towns, 860. Number of town inhabit- 
ants, about 4400. 



14 



l66 LAKE COUNTY. 



CHAPTER IX. 

FACTS AND FIGURES. 

In this chapter, and under this heading, will be found 
arranged, for preservation and reference, facts concern- 
ing our various social, literary, and religious organiza- 
tions, 3.xi^ figures showing our past and present condition 
in material interests, all of which ought to be of general 
interest to the citizens. And if this chapter should not 
be considered at present as readable as some others, I 
apprehend that in future years many will refer to it with 
interest. 

LAKE COUNTY TEMPERANCE SOCIETY. 

In June, 1841, by the efforts of three individuals, — 
Solon Robinson, Norman Warriner, and Hervey Ball, a 
temperance society, bearing the above name, was organ- 
ized at Crown Point. Its meetings were held in the log 
court house, and were very interesting and well attended. 
It accomplished, in its day, much good ; and, about 1849 
or 1850, it was discontinued, the ground being then occu- 
pied by a division of the Sons of Temperance. 

SONS OF TEMPERANCE. 

About 1848, a division of this order was organized in 
Crown Point, which accomplished good in its day, accu- 
mulated some funds, completed its work and disbanded, 



FACTS AND FIGURES. 167 

leaving, on a memorial stone in the brick school house, 
the following as its last record : 

"In memory or" Crown Point Division No. 133, Sons 
of Temperance, who donated $iooo to the erection of 
this building, 1859." 

GOOD TEMPLARS. 

In December, 1855, the first lodge of Good Templars 
in the county was organized at Crown Point. This 
flourished for some time, but at length went down. 
Other lodges of the same order succeeded it in Crown 
Point, and in Hobart, Centreville, Tinkerville, and 
J >owell, none of which are now in existance, except Tem- 
perance Lodge, at Lowell. 

THE ALLIANCE. 

In 1871, the last temperance organization at Crown 
Point was formed, known as the Lake County Temper- 
ance Alliance. 

"lake county agricultural SOCIETY. 

The first meeting to organize an Agricultural Society 
in Lake County was held at the Court House in Crown 
Point, August 27th, 185 1. William Clark was President 
of the meeting, and Harvey Pettibone, Secretary. The 
meeting appointed a committee, consisting of Hervey 
Ball, John Church, and David Turner, to draft a Consti- 
tution and By-Laws for the government of the society. 
The meeting then adjourned to the 30th of the same 
month, when the committee reported a constitution, 
which was adopted. The meeting then adjourned until 
the next Thursday, when an election was held, and the 
following officers duly elected : 

President — Hervey Ball, 

Vice-President — William Clark. 

Treasurer — J. W. Dinwiddie. 

Secretary — Joseph P. Smith. 



l68 LAKE COUNTY. 

Also the following Directors : 

Center Township — Henry Wells. 

West Creek — A. D. Foster. 
Eagle Creek — Michael Pierce. 
St. Johns — H. Keilman. 

Winfield — Augustine Humphrey. 
Ross — William N. Sykes. 

At a subsequent meeting it was agreed to hold the first 
Fair on Thursday, October 2Sth, 1852, and the sum of 
one hundred dollars was appropriated for premiums ; but 
when the list was made out, it only amounted to $93. 

The first Annual Fair was held as per order, on the 
28th of October, 1852, and the total number of entries 
made was sixty-nine, and the total number of premiums 
awarded was thirty, amounting in all to the sum of $48. 
The printing for this Fair was done by Wm. C. Talcott, 
of Valparaiso, for which he presented a bill of $8, which 
was duly allowed. The same President and Secretary 
were re-elected each year, up to and including the sixth 
Annual Fair. 

The second Fair continued two days, and was held on 
the 27th and 28th days of October, 1853 ; and the premi- 
ums awarded at that Fair amounted to ^61.75. 

During the 7th and 8th Annual Fairs, A. D. Foster 
was President, and E. M. Cramer, Secretary. The 8th 
Fair was held on the 4th, 5th, and 6th days of October, 
1859, after the close of which, I find no record of any 
further meetings of the society until July 20th, 1867. In 
i860, the political excitement ran high, and immediately 
thereafter the war of the Rebellion broke out, so that the 



FACTS AND FIGURES. 169 

attention of farmers was drawn away from agricultural 
fairs to the all-absorbing affairs of the nation. At the 
meeting of July 20th, 1867, the Society Avas re-organ- 
ized, and elected Hiram Wason, President; Bartlett 
Woods, Vice-President; J. C. Sauerman, Treasurer, and 
A. E. Beattie, Secretary. Under the management of 
these officers the 9th Annual Fair was held on the 2d, 
3d, and 4th days of October, 1867. Since then our An- 
nual Fair has been one of the fixed institutions of the 
county, and has increased in interest and magnitude 
each year. The 14th Annual Fair is to be held on Wed- 
nesday, Thursday, and Friday, the nth, 12th, and 13th 

of September, 1872. 

Job Barnard." 

lake county sabbath school convention. 

Record. — " A few superintendants, teachers, and 
friends of Sabbath Schools in Lake County, met at 
Crown Point, September i6th, 1865, for the purpose of 
forming a Convention in accordance w^ith a call given at 
the celebration at Cedar Lake. On motion, Rev. R. B. 
Young was called to the chair, and H. B. Austin chosen 
Secretary. * * * * Some articles for adoption 
were offered by Judge Ball, and the following were 
adopted. * * * * The. officers elected were Hervey 
Ball, President ; Rev. R. B. Young, Vice-President ; Rev. 
J. L. Lower, Secretary; M. A. Halsted, Treasurer." 

Rev. H. Wason was the second President ; Rev. R. B. 
Young the third and the present one. Rev. T. H. Ball 
was elected Secretary in 1866, and has so continued until 
the present time. 

The following table gives the names of the schools, or 



170 LAKE COUNTY. 

places where held, of the present year, with the date ol' 
first organization, so far as known, and the present mem- 
bership in round numbers. 

Date. Members. 

Crown Point Presbyterian 1840 75 

Crown Point Methodist Episcopal ...1843 100 

Cedar Lake 1845 40 

South East Grove 1845 40 

Deer Creek 1846 55 

Orchard Grove 1849 40 

Cedar Lake (German) 1850 50 

Buncombe Union 1851 ' 30 

Hobart 1851 70 

Plum Grove 1852 Not in session. 

Lowell Union 1857 Closed in 1871. 

Lake Prairie -1857 40 

Jones School House 1859 30 

Crown Point Baptist 1860 40 

Bryant's School House 1869 50 

Centreville — 30 

Eagle Creek 25 

Prairie View 60 

Pleasant Prairie 5° 

Hurlburt School House 50 

Vincent's School House 60 

Hickory Top 40 

Ensign's School House 25 

Lake Station 25 

Hessville '^^ 

Fuller's School House 25 

Livingston School House — 40 

Lowell Methodist Episcopal ...1871 50 

Robinson's Prairie 30 

Underwood School House. 60 

Adam's School House 40 

Total membership 1310 



FACTS AND FIGURES. 17I 

Number of children between six and twenty-one years 
of age, in the townships, as reported officially for 1872. 
North, 592; Hobart, 299; Ross, 625; St. Johns, 585; 
Hanover, 376; Centre, 340; Winfield, 232; West Creek, 
400 ; Cedar Creek, 465 ; Eagle Creek, 232 ; Town of 
Crown Point, 439. (The latter number would increase 
the number in Centre Township to 779). Total, 4585. 
The order of the townships in population, estimated 
according to the number of children, will then be the 
following : Centre, Ross, North, St. Johns, Cedar Creek, 
West Creek, Hanover, Hobart ; Winfield and Eagle Creek 
being the last in the order and equal in number. 

The following table gives the names, so far as I have 
been able to obtain them, of those who have gone forth 
from our county to attend the higher institutions of 
learning. 

Names of graduates are given first, with names of in- 
stitution and date of graduating. 

T. H. Ball Franklin College, 1850 

Henry Humphrey , University of Michigan, 1851- 

Milton Blayney Wabash College, 1861 

Henry Johnson Hanover College, 1873 

Leila G. Robinson Phipps Union Seminary, 1857 

Mary Jane Ball Ladoga Seminary, 1859 

Henrietta Ball Indianapolis Female Institute, 1861 

Fannie C. Vanhouten " " '' 1862 

Sarah J. Turner Oxford Female .Seminary, 1868 

Nannie Wason " " " 1871 

MEDICAL GRADUATES. 

John Higgins La Porte Medical College, 1846 

Samuel R. Pratt University of Michigan, I860 

Stephen S. Farrington " " " 1867 

Frederick Castle " " " 1869 



172 LAKE COUNTY. 

J. W.Johns Chicago Medical, 1869 

A. Tillotson Bennett Medical, 1871 

H. H. Pratt Rush Medical, 1872 

H. A. Castle Indiana Medical, 1873 

A. Vincent Chicago Homcepathic, 1873 

THEOLOGICAL GRADUATES. 

Henry Humphrey Princeton, 1860 

T. H. Ball Newton Theological Institution, 1863 

LAW GRADUATES. 

James H. Ball University of Chicago, 1871 

T. S. Fancher University of Michigan, 1871 

J. W, Youche ,, „ 1872 

Milton Barnard „ „ 1873 

NORMAL GRADUATES. 

William Dubriel Englewood Normal, 1873 

NOW PURSUING A REGULAR LITERARY COURSE. 

J. H. Dowd Junior Class, State University, Bloomington 

J. A. Burhans Sophomore Class, Indiana Asbury University 

ENTERED THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY AT CHICAGO. 

Henry Johnson 1872 

LITERARY COURSE NOT COMPLETED. 

E. J. Farwell Wabash College 

H. G. Bliss 

Charles Ball .Franklin College 

James H, Ball ._ " " 

John Wood 

Alex. McDonald j Notre Dame 

Ambrose McDonald " " 

O. Dinwiddle University of Chicago 

Milton Hart.. ^University of Michigan 

J. W. Hart... 

Abbott Wason Wabash College 

E.Ames. " " 

Charles Holton " 

Henry Pettibone Hanover College 



FACTS AND FIGURES. I 73 

COURSE NOT COMPLETED. 

Mary E. Pelton Ontario Female Seminary 

Martha B, Sanger '' " " 

HelenClark 

Lucina Brannon Oxford Female Seminary 

Annie Gerrish - " " " 

Mary E. Merrill.. Englewood Normal 

Loe R. Thomas Terra Haute Normal. 

OXFORD STUDENTS OF THIS YEAR. 
Cordelia Wood, Emma Turner, 

Ruth Ann Pettibone, MariahWason, 

Annie M. Turner, Henrietta Bridgman. 

EXTRACTS FROM THE MARRRIAGE RECORD OF LAKE 
COUNTY. 

No. I. — Solomon Russell to Rosina Barnard. Mar- 
ried March 9, 1837, by S. Robinson, J. P. 

(The county was organized February 15, 1837. Li- 
cense obtained at Valparaiso). 

No. 2. — Lorenzo O. Beebe to Betsey Prentice. March 
12, 1837, by A. L. Ball, J. P. 

No. 3. — John Russell to Harriet Helton. October 19, 
1837, by William F. Talbot, V. D. M. 

No. 4. — David M. Dille to Loretta Lilley. October 
24, H. Taylor, J. P. 

No. 6. — Charles Woods to Mary Ann Russell. March 
15, 1838, by H. Taylor, J. P. 

No. 10. — Thomas Clark and Harriet Lavina Farwell. 
January 23, 1839, by Hon. H. D. Palmer, Associate 
Judge. 

No. 12. — Alfred D. Foster and Emeline Hathaway. 
April 4, 1839, by E. W. Bryant, J. P. 

No. 25. — E. S. Townsend and Eliza Eddy. Decem- 
15 



174 LAKE COUNTY. 

ber 17, 1839, by Rev. W. R. Marshall, Minister of the 
Gospel, of La Porte. 

Up to this time every marriage ceremony in the county 
except one had been performed by a civil officer. And 
afterwards no minister appears till number 49, November 
25, 1841, when A. Morrison's name is recorded. 

No. 50 is by Robert M. Hyde, M. G. 

No. 55 is by Norman Warriner, March 3, 1842. 

Up to this time it is to be inferred that ministers in 
this region were few. 

November 28, 1842, is the first record of the name, as 
an officiating clergyman, of Rev. J. C. Brown; and De- 
cember 22, 1842, is found the name of Rev. W. Blain. 

FIRST MASONIC LODGE. 

Dispensation dated November 11, 1853 ; six members : 
H. Ball, John Wood, H. S. Holton, W. A. Clark, W. G. 
McGlashon, and T. H. Luther. Charter granted May 
24, 1854. Hervey Ball, W. M. from 1853 to 1857. Whole 
number of master masons up to this date, 164. First ma- 
sonic burial was that of W. C. Farrington, in 1856. Ser- 
mon preached by Rev. T. H. Ball. Text, John xiv : 6. 
" Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, and the truth, and 
the life ; no man cometh unto the Father but by me."' 
Other masonic burials have been of the following mem- 
bers of Lake Lodge: John Wheeler, July, 1863; D. 
Crumbacker, 1864; Charles Ball, September, 1865; C. 
Kurtz, March, 1867; James B. Turner, August, 1867; 
Hervey Ball, October, 1868; A. E. Beattie, October, 
1869; J. E. Fraas, May, 1871; A. Sanford, December, 
1871 ; S. S. Farrington, May, 1872. 



FACTS AND FIGURES. 175 

LITERARY SOCIETIES. 

In countries that enjoy constitutional liberty, voluntary 
associations for intellectual improvement are common 
and useful. Next to schools for the young come their 
literary societies. Before either, in importance, are, 
sometimes, the home training and private reading. 

In Lake County a number of these societies have been 
organized. I think that as early as 1840 a debating 
club met for some time at the house of Solon Robinson. 
But the first one organized for the young, and of which 
there are existing records, I suppose to be 

THE CEDAR LAKE LYCEUM, 

The date or its organization is February, 1846 ; and a 
grand day it was for the youth of Cedar Lake, Prarie 
West, and West Creek, when it started into existence. 
For a group of boys in these localities, at least five of 
whom are now active professional and business men, be- 
tween the ages of thirty and fifty, in the East, the West, 
and the Far West, it accomplished, in the cultivation of 
a literary taste and in promoting a desire for thorough 
mental culture, what money could not purchase. A 
number ol its members are dead ; but the living can never 
forget its pleasant and profitable exercises. Next in or- 
der I name 

THE CEDAR LAKE BELLES-LETTRES SOCIETY. 

Which included girls also among its members, met only 
once each month, and required the chief attention of its 
members to be given to writing. The date of its organi- 
zation is 1847. 

One of the memorable addresses delivered before this 



176 LAKE COUNTY. 

Society was by Solon Robinson, in which he paid a high 
compliment to the culture manifested in his note of in- 
vitation, and referred to his having met the Indians there, 
for some consultation, not many years before. The Cor- 
responding Secretary at that time was noted for her beau- 
tiful penmanship. She afterwards became the wife of 
Munson Church, of Prairie West, and after discharging 
her duties for several years as a wife and mother, she 
many years ago, died. I think that not more than two 
girls in Lake county have ever excelled her in penman- 
ship. Like many others of our early dead, she sleeps al- 
most forgotten by the living. I record here her given 
name, the name of that rare but lovely virtue, Charity. 

The third of these organizations was formed at Crown 
Point, in the log court house, by young persons from 
Cedar Lake and Prairie West, with a few at Crown Point. 
Date of organization, 1848. 

This was designed to be a Lake County Literary Soci- 
ety, but there was not at that time a sufficient literary 
spirit at Crown Point to aid in keeping up such an organi- 
zation, and its originators, therefore, let it die. In these 
later years there have been societies at Brunswick, Tink- 
erville, Lowell, Orchard Grove, Plum Grove, South East 
Grove, Hickory Point, Pleasant Prairie, DeepRiver, Mer- 
rillville, Hobart, and Crown Point, with the names and 
dates of which the secretaries have not thought to fur- 
nish me. At Crown Point I find : 

I THE CROWN POINT LITERARY. 

Organized in 1863. Among the active members were 
especially the three pastors in the town, one of these 
doing considerable of the literary work, aided nobly by 



FACTS AND FIGURES. 177 

a choice band of coadjutors ; and J. E. Newhouse, and J. 
L. Lower, both teachers of vocal music, and amateur per- 
formers on the guitar, furnishing much excellent music. 
This Society met at the Brick School House, and its 
meetings were well attended by the citizens and by vis- 
itors. In musical talent it was highly favored, the two 
guitars and the accompanying voices producing rich 
melody. 

II. THE PIERIAN SOCIETY 1865. 

This Society was composed exclusively of members of 
the Institute, and was the first, and only one of its class 
thus far, in this county. One of its programmes is placed 
here for preservation. 

SECOND ANNUAL EXHIBITION 

OF THE 

x^i:E:E^i.A.:tT society". 

f'ER ASPERA AD ASTRA. 

CROWN POINT INSTITUTE, FRIDAY EVENING, APRIL 12, 1867, 

CROWN POINT, INDIANA. 

ORDER OF EXERCISES : 

MUSIC. 

PRAYER. 

MUSIC. 

Declamation — I. Cutler Cedar Lake 

Letter— Miss C. Barton Yellow Head, 111. 

Essay— Freedom— T. F. Palmer Burnettsville 

Recitation — Miss A. Barber __ Crown Point 

MUSIC. 
Declamation — H. Griffin Crown Point 

Address — Education — Miss M. Foster Crown Point 

Oration — A Good Name — H. Johnson Crown Point 

MUSIC. 

Tticr- c' (Did Pocahontas saveJAff. U. J. Fry Lowell 

discussion -j jj^g ,;j.g of John Smith? "j Neg. J. Dinwiddie Orchard Grove 



jyS LAKE COUNTY. 

MUSIC. 

Declamation — P. Ebbert •. Chicago 

Letter— Miss F. Starr Eagle Creek 

Essay — Future Prospects of our Country — J. B. Turner Crown Point 

Recitation— Miss E. Mii.lis Door Village 

MUSIC. 

Declamation— \V. Hill -_ --- Cedar Lake 

Address — Study of the Languages — Miss B. F. \Ve.\therbe Chicago 

Oration— Our Country — C. Holton ..- Deep River 

MUSIC. 
BENEDICTION. 

Its meetings were held weekly during term time, and it 
doubtless did a good work in cultivating a literary taste. 

III. THE WEBSTER SOCIETY 1869-1872. 

Meetings held first at Fraas' Hall, and finally at the 
Court House. At this society could be found, each week, 
the largest and most cultivated audience of the town. 

The societies here named are no longer organized bod- 
ies. Their work is done. They belong to the records 
of the past. 

The society at Hobart is apparently the most perma- 
nent Literary Society now in the county. 

Crown Point has about reached the transition state be- 
tween literary societies and lecture associations. Its 
next organization in this line will probably be a Lecture 
Association, to secure for each winter a course of Ly- 
ceum Lectures. 

As towns grow into cities this seems to be the sure 
result. 

CHURCH ORGANIZATIONS. 

There are in the county seven Catholic Churches, all 
having houses, and resident pastors or supplies. One 
more will soon be organized, and a chapel will be built 
at Lowell. 



FACTS AND FIGURES. 179 

There are four Lutheran Churches, all having houses 
of worship. 

There are two Presbyterian Churches also having 
houses erected. 

There is one Christian Church, and building. 

There are two German Methodist Churches, and build- 
ings, one of these called Evangelical. 

There are three Baptist Churches, and buildings ; one 
building not yet completed. 

There are four Methodist Episcopal Classes having 
church buildings ; and classes at Deer Creek, Prairie 
View, Centreville, Underwood School House, Lake, Eagle 
Creek, Orchard Grove, and Jones' School House, having 
no church buildings. Whole number of classes, 12. 

There is a German Methodist class and congregation 
at Centreville. No church building. Evangelical Ger- 
man Methodist classes also meet at Deer Creek, and at 
Crown Point, having no church edifices. 

There is a Methodist Church, not Episcopal, at Vin- 
cent School House. 

All these make, of church organizations in the county, 
and maintaining public worship, 35. Besides these 
thirty-five places of preaching, the pastor at Lake Prairie 
preaches at the Burhan's School House, the Livingtone 
School House, and the Fuller School House ; the pastor 
of the Presbyterian Church at Hebron preaches at South 
East Grove, and Bryant's School House ; the pastor of 
the North Street Church preaches at South East Grove, 
and Pleasant Prairie ; and the minister supplying at Sa- 
lem Presbyterian Church preaches at the Hurlburt 
School House. 



l8o LAKE COUNTY. 

The German Methodist pastor at Cedar Lake preaches 
at Lake Prairie, at Crown Point, and near Centreville. 

The Lutheran pastor at Tolleston also preaches at 
Hessville. 

The pastor of the Vincent Methodist Church preaches 
at Hickory Top. 

There is also preaching this summer at the Adams 
School House, by Rev. R. Randolph, who has lately 
moved here from Michigan. 

The pastor of the Covenanter Church in Porter county, 
also preaches at Hickory Point. 

A German Methodist pastor at Valparaiso preaches at 
Hobart, 

Number of places of religious meeting, 50. 

TABULAR VIEW OF CHURCH BUILDINGS. 

CATHOLIC CHURCHES. 

No. 0/ Value of 
Name of Church. When Erected. families, property. 

Church of St. John the Evan- First Chapel, 1843. Present 

gelist, at St. Johns Church built of brick, 1856. 140 $18,000 

Church of the Holy Apostles First Log Church, about 1852. 

Peter and Paul, at Turkey Present large building of Joliet 

Creek stone, 1864. 

Church of St. Anthony, at 

Klaasville 1861. 

Church of St. Joseph, at Lake 

Station -_ 1861. 

Church of St.Joseph,at Dyer. 1867. 
Church of St. Martin, at Han- 
over Centre 1869. 

Church of the Blessed Virgin 

Mary, at Crown Point 1867. 

455 
Families at Hobart and at Lowell 45 

Total No. of families 500 

Whole No. of Churches, 7. 

LUTHERAN CHURCHES. 

Zion's Church, in Hanover. 1859. 

Trinity Church, Crown Point. 1869. 

Tolleston. 1869. 

Hobart. 1870. 

The first three of these are German Lutheran ; the fourth is Sweedish Evangeli- 
cal Lutheran, supplied from Bailey Town, and Chicago. No resident pastor. 



40 


8,000 


45 


2,000 


20 


2,000 


60 


6,000 


60 


4,000 


90 


5-400 



30 


3,000 


23 


3i3oo 


65 


2,800 


25 


2,500 



FACTS AND FIGURES. l5l 

METHODIST EPISCOPAI,. 

Hickory Point About 1844. Now dilapidated. 

Crown Point, ist - 1845-47- 

Crown Point, 2d i860 6,000 

Pleasant Grove 1853 ^50° 

Now Lowell.- 1870 6,500 

West Creek, ist - '843 

West Creek, 2d 186^ 2.000 

Hobart. - 1872 4.000 

Membership in the county, 450. 

PRESBYTEKIAN. 

CrownPoint.. - 1S45-47. 3,000 

Lake Prairie 1872 1,500 

Membership in the county, 124. 

GERMAN METHODIST. 

Cedar Lake 1855 2,000 

GERMAN EVANGELICAL. 

Cedar Lake 1858 80a 

CHRISTIAN. 

At Lowell 1870 6,000 

BAPTIST. 

Crown Point, 1856 800 

Lowell- 1856 1,500 

North Street, at Crown Point. 1872 1,500 

Whole No. of members, 62. 
In all 23 houses of worship now in the county. The Lutheran at Hobart, and 

" North Street,"not finished. 

CONDENSED VIEW. 

Whole number of families, 2,500 ; Catholic families, 
500; Lutheran, 225 ; Methodist Episcopal, 250 ; Presby- 
terian, 80 ; Christian, 45 ; Baptist, 40 ; German Metho- 
dist, 50 ; Non-Episcopal Methodists, 25 ; Covenanters, 
10 ; total, 1,250. 

PASTORS OF THE DIFFERENT DENOMINATIONS. 
BAPTIST — AT CEDAR LAKE. 

N. Warriner, ordained in June, 1840, i838-'42 ; Wm. 
T. Bly, 1845-46; Alex. Hastings, 1848; Thomas Hunt, 
December, 1851, November, 1852. Died in the county; 
buried July 22, 1853; Uriah McKay, October, i853-'54. 
This Cedar Lake Baptist Church dismissed members to 
form a church at Thorn Grove, Illinois, in 1848; also 



I02 LAKE COUNTY, 

dismissed members to form a church at West Creek, in 
1848; and in December, 1851, dismissed members to 
form a church at Crown Point. 

The poj^lation changing, new centres springing up, 
and many removing, considering its mission accomplished, 
this church disbanded January 17, 1856, having been or- 
ganized June 17, 1838. 

AT LOWELL. 

T. H. Ball, i856-'57; John Benny, i857-'59; T. H. 
Ball, 1863-64; G. Lewis, i864-'65; J. Bruce, 1867-72. 

A. E. Simons was pastor at Crown Point, from 1859 to 
1862. 

The Presbyterian Church at Crown Point was consti- 
tuted, according to its session records, April 27, 1844. 

PASTORS. 

J. C. Brown, i840-'46; Wm. Townley, i846-'56; 



Shultz, i857-'59 ; James L. Lower, i859-'65; A. Y. 
Moore, i866-'69; Samuel McKee, i87o-'7i; S. Fleming, 
1871. 

The first pastor, Rev. J. C. Brown, D. D., resided at 
Valparaiso. He died chaplain of the 48th Regiment 
Indiana Volunteers, at Paducah, Kentucky, July 14, 
1862. The second pastor, Rev. Wm. Townley, was in- 
strumental in the erection of the first private school 
house in Crown Point, which is now the Presbyterian 
parsonage. He carried on a school himself for some 
years, and aided in giving quite an impulse to the cause 
of education. He was for some time School Examiner 
of the county, and conscientious in the discharge of 
duty. He died, during this year, in the State of Illinois. 



FACTS AND FIGURES. 283 

PASTORS IN LAKE PRAIRIE. 

H. Wason, 1857-64; B. Wells, i864-'68; E. H. Post, 
i87o-'72. 

CHRISTIAN. 
PASTORS. 

N. Cofenburg, i842-'52; C. Blackman, iS55-'57. 

SUPPLIES. 

Johnson, Russell, Jones, Goodman. 
Rose, i862-'67 ; Shortridge, i869-'7o ; Wheeler, March, 
1871. 

LUTHERAN. 

The church at Tolleston had supplies for some six 
years from Dalton, and Chicago. H. Wunderlich, resident 
pastor since August, 187 1. 

Zion's Church, in Hanover Township, Rev. P. Lehman, 
pastor 1859- '68. No pastor at present. 

Church at Hobart supplied. 

CHURCH AT CROWN POINT. PASTORS. 

C. F. W. Huge, i87o-'7i ; George Heintz, 1871. 

NON-EPISCOPAL METHODIST PASTORS. 

W. S. Hinds, 1871. 

METHODIST EPISCOPAL PASTORS. 

Lake and Porter, originally attached to La Porte, were 
a mission field, at first, of that circuit. Mission preach- 
ers were Jones and Beers. ■ 

CIRCUIT PREACHERS. 

Robert Hyde, 1837-38; Stagg, i838-'39; Green, 
1839- 40 ; Wheeler, 1840-40 ; W. Posey, 1840-41 ; W. J. 
Forbes, i84i-'42 ; Cozad, 1842-43; D. Crumbacker, 
1843-44; J. Early, 1844-45; S. B. Lamb, 1845-47; 
Salisbury, 1847-48; H. B. Ball, 1848-49; Strite, 



184 LAKE COUNTY. 

i849-'5o; Casey, i85o-'5i ; L. Moore, i85i-'52; C. S. 
Burgner, i852-'53. 

The county was now divided into two circuits. 

CROWN POINT CIRCUIT. 

R. B. Young, i8s3-'54; F. Cox, 1854-55; Brown, 
i855-'56; Crawford, i856-'57 ; C. B. Heath, i857-'S8; 
J. W. Green, i858-'59. 

CROWN POINT NOW MADE A STATION. 

J. W. Green, i859-'6o. New church built. Morris, 
Robinson, and R. B. Young, i86o-'6i ; J. H. Claypool, 
i86i-'62; H. C. Fraley, i862-'63 ; J. E. Newhouse, 
i863-'64; B. H. Bradbury, i864-'65 ; S. P. Colvin, 1865 
-'66; T. C. Stringer, iS66-'69; M. M. Stolz, 1869-72. 

LOWELL, OR WEST CREEK CIRCUIT. 

D. Dunham, i853-'55 ; C. B. Mawk, i855-'56 ; McDan- 
iels, i856-'58; W. J. Forbes, i858-'59; A. Haze and J. 
H. Ciscel, i859-'6o; W. W. Jones, and Brook, i86o-'62; 
J. H. Claypool, i862-'63 ; Unsworth, i863-'64; W. T, 
Jones, iS64ii^'65 ; D. Winegar, i865-'66 ; Vickars, 1866- 
'67; E. W. Lawhorn, i867-'69; J. J. Hines and R. B. 
Young, i869-'7i; J. Harrison, i87i-'72. 

HOBART CIRCUIT. 

N. B. Wood, iS66-'67 ; Vickars, i867-'69; J. W. 
Crane, i869-'7o; Stafford, i87o-'72. 

CATHOLIC PASTORS AT ST. JOHNS. 

Francisco Antonio Carius, 1846-49 ; F. Cointet, (S. S 
C) i849-'5o, February; F. C. Schilling, 1850; B. J 
Voors, i85i-'52; F. C. Schilling, i853-'54. May; B. J 
Voors, i854-'57, June ; A. Tursch, July, i857-'58 
March; Jacob Mayor, i858-'58, April to September; B 



FACTS AND FIGURES. 185 

Rachor, September, iSsS-'yo, September ; A. Heitmann, 
1870. 

AT KLAASVILLE. 

Church consecrated May 12, 1861, by Right Reverend 
John Henry Luess, D. D., Bishop of this diocese. The 
present pastor has kindly furnished for me the following 
note : " Since the church's dedication, attended by Rev. 
Francis Nick, Rev. King, Rev. Frederick Fuchs, who 
died here, and is interred in the Catholic Cemetery of 
the congregation ; and he was succeeded by Rev. Henry 
Renssen ; and the church is now attended and pastored 
by the Rev. Francis Seigeluk, every Sunday, and holi- 
day. As the congregation is fast increasing a new church 
will be built there ere long." The pastor at Klaasville 
resides at Hanover Centre, and is pastor of that church. 

At Turkey Creek, and at Lake, no resident pastors at 
present. 

AT DYER. 

K. Schmidt, i867-'7i ; B. Wedne, 1872. 

AT CROWN POINT. 

P. Wehrle; L. Weiser, i869-'7o; H. Meissner, 1871. 

I take the opportunity to acknowledge here the kind- 
ness and courtesy of the pastors at Hanover, St. Johns, 
and Crown Point, in furnishing to me information for 
these records ; and to express my gratification in regard 
to the pleasant acquaintances thus formed. Indeed, all 
the pastors of the different churches have aided me in 
this very kindly ; but some of us do not keep our own 
records in as good shape as do our Catholic brethren. 

Population in 1870, 12,339. Present population about 
12,500. 



l86 LAKE COUNTY. 

CHURCH MEMBERS. 

(Some of these are estimated from the families.) 

Catholic, 2500; Lutheran, 1125; Methodist Episcopal, 
450; German Methodist, 120; Presbyterian, 124; Chris- 
tian, 78; Baptist, 62; Evangelical, 50; Non-Episcopal 
Methodists, 40 ; Covenanters, 20; total, 4560. 

Number of children in the townships, as enumerated 
for public school purposes, 45 S5. 

Number of children in the Sabbath Schools, under 
twenty-one years of age, about rooo. 

The Catholic and Lutheran children, who are relig- 
iously instructed with great care, would number about 
1500. 

Great changes have taken place in the religious orga- 
nizations in the past thirty years. Four Baptist churches 
have disbanded, located at Cedar Lake, West Creek, Ho- 
bart, and Eagle Creek. Methodist churches or classes 
have ceased to exist, that were once flourisliing, at Pleas- 
ant Grove, Centre Prairie, Hickory Point, Hickory Top, 
and probably other places ; and Methodist preaching is 
discontinued also at Jones' School House, South East 
Grove, and the Butler School House. Flourishing United 
Brethren congregations have been scattered, and pasto- 
ral ministrations of this denomination have ceased. Yet 
the county, as a whole, is not falling back in regard to 
Christian civilization. Four resident Catholic pastors, 
two resident Lutheran, three Methodist pastors, and one 
Presbyterian, devote their time to the religious training 
and spiritual welfare of their flocks. Ten men devoting 
their whole time and energies to the upbuilding of Chris- 
tianity in our townships ouglit to accomplish much. And 



FACTS AND FIGURES. 187 

there are five others, engaged in part in secular pursuits, 
to earn the necessaries of life, who may also be counted 
as laborers in the wide harvest field of which our domain 
forms a little part. Fifteen laborers in this " vineyard " 
ought to be able to secure a high state of cultivation. It 
will appear from the figures elsewhere given that one-fifth 
of the inhabitants of Lake county are Catholic, one- 
eleventh are Lutherans, and that, including these, one- 
half of the families are believers in what may be called 
orthodox Christianity. 

Among the twelve hundred and fifty families making 
up the other half of our population, there are some Uni- 
versalists, some Spiritualists, some Sceptics, some with no 
fixed religious belief; and among these families are some 
— I record it because believing it to be true, and that one 
truth will not suffer in consequence of another truth ; 
and I record it also, believing intensely in pure Christi- 
anity, and disgusted thoroughly with some wicked things 
done professedly in the name of Christ, and professedly for 
his cause — among these non-evangelical families are some 
of the kindest, most obliging, most reliable, and best 
disposed of our citizens. How many, this record will not 
disclose. 

Hoping to be able to give honor to w/iom honor, and 
praise to whom praise is due, and having had some large 
opportunities for ascertaining character, I make this re- 
cord for the sake of justice, and truth, and for the sug- 
gestions which it may call forth. And I suppose it to be 
saying much for our evangelization to repeat, that one- 
half of the families of Lake are believers in one revealed 
religion, and in one inspired book ; a book of whose 



155 LAKE COUNTY. 

teachings, Bonar, of England, one of the best Christian 
poets of our day, has said : 

" More durable they stand, 
Than the eternal hills ; 
Far sweeter and more musical 
Than music of earth's rills. 

" Fairer in their fair hues, 

Than the fresh flowers of earth, 
More fragrant than the fragrant climes 
Where odors have their birth." 

PHYSICIANS AT CRO\VN POINT. 

The earliest regular physician in the county was Dr. 
H. D. Palmer, who settled north of Solon Robinson's lo- 
cation, in the winter of 1836. An irregular practitioner. 
Dr. Joseph F. Greene, settled soon after near Cedar 
Lake, practiced several years in that locality, was a great 
hunter and trapper, and died about 1847. Those resid- 
ing at the county seat are the following : W. F. Farring- 
ton, i84o-'56 ; Andrew Stone, — '46; Cunning- 
ham, — ; H. Pettibone, 1847; Wm. E.Vilmer, i853-'6i ; A. 

J. Pratt, 1854 ; Finney, i855-'58 ; J. Higgins, 1859 ; 

S. R. Pratt, i86o-'63 ; C. Groman, i86i-'6^\ O. Poppe, 
June, 1870. 

DENTISTS. 

O. H. Wilcox, i864-'7i ; D. T. Quackenbush, 1871; 
G. E. Eastman, 1872. 

Dr. J. Higgins went into the army as surgeon in 1861. 
At first he was connected with a United States regiment, 
but that becoming disorganized he received the position 
of surgeon of the 12th Cavalry, Illinois Volunteers. He 
remained in the service, a great part of the time as 



FACTS AND FIGURES. 189 

brigade surgeon, or in general hospitals at Chicago and 
Washington City, until 1S65, early in which year he re- 
sumed practice at Crown Point. As an experienced, 
operative surgeon, he stands at the head of the ranks 
among the physicians of the county. Dr. Samuel R. 
Pratt also served as army surgeon ; first in the 87 th Reg- 
iment Indiana Volunteers, resigning on account of ill 
health; and afterward in the 12th Cavalry, remaining 
with this regiment until its return at the close of the war. 
He then located at Hebron, where as practicing physi- 
cian, he still resides. Dr. Otto Poppe is ahomoeopathist, 
an intelligent, courteous German, comparatively young, 
but acquiring quite a practice. 

Two physicians have died here, Drs. Farrington, and 
Wilmer. One resided here for a short time. Dr. Brow- 
nell, and removed to the neighborhood of Plum Grove, 
and died not many months ago. 

The resident physicians are now four, all of whom for 
the last year or two have made their professional visits in 
two-horse covered carriages. 

Dr. Bliss, a retired physician, also resides in town, 
keeping a drug store, and occasionall}' visiting, profes- 
sionally, his particular friends. 

PHYSICIANS AT LOWELL. 

At the head of this list I place one of the oldest prac- 
ticing physicians of this region, Dr. J. A. Wood, who 
settled in Porter county, in June, 1837, and extended his 
rides into Lake, and removed to West Point, Cedar Lake, 
in the winter of 1840. In 1842 he removed to Center 
Prairie, and in 1847 to Lowell. He was, for eighteen 

months. Regimental Sur2;eon in the 12th Indiana Cav- 
16 



190 LAKE COUNTY. 

alr3^ Was much of the time in hospitals in positions 
above his nominal rank in the service. He built his pres- 
ent residence in the suburbs of Lowell in 1862. 

Dr. John Farrington ; Dr. John Hunt, i855-'57. He 
returned to La Porte county and died. Dr. S. B. Yeo- 
man, 1856. Died at Lowell, January, 1864. Dr. A. A. 
Gerrish, 1865 ; Dr. S. B. Taylor, i865-'69. Removed 
to Nebraska. Dr. E. R. Bacon, 1866 ; Dr. J. E. Davis, 
1870. 

PHYSICIANS AT BRUNSWICK. 

M. Hoffman, i857-'59; C. Schlemm ; Walensky; 

C. Schlemm ; H. Volke, 1865 ; C. Groman, 1865. 

AT HOBART. 

Dr. P. P. Gordon, 1866 ; Dr. H. Castle, 1872. 

AT DEEP RIVER. 

Dr. Vincent, 1871. 

AT DYER. 

Dr. S. W. Johns. 

LAWYERS AT CROWN POINT. 

A. McDonald, date of location, 1839 ; Martin Wood, 
1848; E. Griffin. 1857 ; Charles N. Morton, 1858; James 
B, Turner, 1861 ; T. Cleveland, 1863; E. C. Field, Aprils 
1865; Job Barnard, May, 1867; T. J. Wood, 1867 ; W. 

T. Horine, 1870; McCarthy, 1870; T. S. Fancher, 

1871; James H. Ball, 1871 ; Milton Barnard, 1872; J. 
W. Youche, 1872. 

The first of these lawyers, Alexander McDonald, was 
an early settler in the south part of the county. Remov- 
ing to Crown Point, in 1839, ^^*^ entering upon the prac- 
tice of law, he became the most eminent lawyer of the 
county, was a representative four or five terms at Indian- 



FACTS AND FIGURES. I9I 

apolis, and in the midst of a prosperous legal career, 
died in 1869. 

The fifth, James B. Turner, was a son of Judge Sam- 
uel Turner, an old settler. He was a refined and courte- 
ous gentleman, of prepossessing personal appearance, a 
member of the Presbyterian Church, and an exemplary- 
Christian lawyer. Leaving his practice at Crown Point, 
he went, with M. A. Halsted, to the South, at the close of 
the war, for the purpose of engaging in the cultivation of 
cotton, and died there in 1866. His remains were 
brought to his home, at Crown Point, for burial. 

Charles N. Morton, and McCarthy, remained here 

but a short time. The others are still members of the 
Lake County Bar. 

The names of a few lawyers who were here for a short 

time are omitted in the above record, among them 

Hewitt, in 1848, and perhaps 1849, and George Glossner, 
a partner for a few months of this year with T. S. Fan- 
cher; also A. G. Hardesty, and J. B. Peterson, residents 
for a few months of this summer, at the county seat. 

An idea of our growth in some directions may be ob-- 
tained from the following contrast : 

A post office, as has been mentioned, was established 
at Crown Point under the name of Lake C. H., in 1836. 
The receipts of the office from March to October were 
$15. The next quarter the receipts were $8.87. Third 
quarter $21.49. In 1837 a weekly mail was brought from 
La Porte. The contract was taken at $450 for the year. 
Quarter ending June 30, the receipts were, $26.92 ; Sep- 
tember 30, $43.50; December 31, $38.20; March 31, 
1838, $51.33 ; June 30, $51.39. This last was the largest 



192 LAKE COUNTY. 

amount received in one quarter while Solon Robinson was 
postmaster. This one office then supplied the county, 
and each letter taken out cost twenty-five cents if com- 
ing from any great distance. 

In this year, 1872, the following is the record of Crown 
Point post office, Z. P. Farley, postmaster : 

There was received for money orders, issued from Jan- 
uary ist to July ist, 1872, ^9,075.81. There was paid 
out on money orders drawn on this office during the 
same time, $2,892.81, the balance, $6,183, being remitted 
to Chicago. The amount received for stamps sold du- 
ring the six months ending July ist, was $576.36. The 
number of mails received at this office each week, 28 ; 
number of mails sent out, 28. 

Another contrast is furnished by the assessment re- 
cords. The first assessment, made after the organization 
in 1837, includes 8,726 acres of land valued at $77,787, 
the tax upon it amounting to $894. There were 226 polls 
and 23 over age, making 249 assessed for taxation. The 
personal property tax, at high rates of valuation, 
amounted to $521 ; poll tax, $282.50; total tax, $1,697. 
The assessment of 1846 shows 600 persons assessed; 
54,421 acres, valued at $78,792; personal property as- 
sessed, at very low rates of valuation, $95,849; tax upon 

all, $2,754. 

In 187 1 the number of acres assessed was 293,614, 
valued at $2,342,155 ; personal property, $723,160 ; num- 
ber of polls, 1,796; tax, $53,358-66; railroad valuation, 
$548,040; tax on railroad property, $6,263.51. The tax 
of 1837 was brought up by high valuations, and by in- 



FACTS AND FIGURES. I93 

eluding 409 town lots in Liverpool assessed at $26,440, 
to $2,002, equaling more than two-thirds the tax of 1846. 

It was ascertained, a fact which shows how unsettled 
that first squatter population was, that of the 249 first 
assessed 80 only remained in the county ten years after- 
wards ; 27 had died ; " so that" says he who then counted 
up the number, " 142 have rolled on in that irresistible 
Avave of western emigration that never will cease till it 
meets the resisting wave of the western ocean, which will 
cause the mighty tide to react upon itself until all the 
mountain sides and fertile plains of Mexico and Oregon 
are teeming with the Anglo-Saxon race." 

And still a third contrast appears in the number of 
voters, and in the census returns of number of inhabi- 
tants. At the first election, which was held in March, 
1837, 78 votes were polled. At the presidential election 
in 1844, votes 325 ; in 1868, 2,336. The estimated popu- 
lation in 1837 was 1,245. 

In 1840 the United States census was taken by Lewis 
Warriner, of Cedar Lake. Population then, 1,468 ; in 
1850,3,991; in 1860,9,145; in 1870 it reached 12,339; 
increase between 1840 and 1850, 2,523; between 1850 
and i860, 5,154; between i860 and 1870, 3,194. 

A fourth contrast appears in the amount of produc- 
tions. A sufficient amount of food for home consumption 
was raised probably in the summer of 1838. In 1840 
sales of produce may be said to have commenced. The 
first articles for market were grain and pork. As pro- 
ductions increased, and facilities for transportation were 
provided, we added to the grain and pork, butter, cheese, 
honey, potatoes, wool, poultry, eggs ; horses, cattle, and 
hay. 



194 LAKE COUNTY. 

The value of each of these now marketed in a year, 
I am sorry to be unable to give ; but the following figures 
"End facts will aid in forming an estimate : One dealer, 
H. C. Beckman, of Hanover Township, village of Bruns- 
wick, has bought in a single day, in the regular course of 
trade, thirty-seven hundred eggs, and about three hun- 
dred pounds of butter. In five months of this year he 
bought 5,600 dozen, and his amount for the year may be 
placed at 8,000 dozen. Amount of butter taken in during 
the year, 10,000 pounds. 

The butter and egg trade of Lowell for a year is in 
dollars, $12,000; that of H. C. Beckman, about $3,000; 
A. D. Palmer, about $1,000 ; Crown Point, about $12,000 ; 
other places, probably $22,000 ; total, $50,000. 

During the past year there have been shipped from this 
county, as near as can be ascertained, 160,000 bushels of 
corn; 360,000 bushels of oats; 2,200 tons of hay. Of 
pork, a large amount ; the figures I cannot obtain ; and 
many cattle have been sold for beef. 

Some seventy horses were this summer taken to the 
New England markets. Many more went to Chicago. 
Total valuation of products sent out of the county, 
$300,000. 

In manufactures also something is done. The wagon- 
making business at one shop in Crown Point, the shop 
owned by J. Hack, gives constant employment to eight 
workmen, and turns off in a year some fifty wagons, ten 
or twelve carriages and buggies, besides doing quite an 
amount of repair. Other shops at Crown Point and Low- 
ell do a fair amount of work. 

The broom factory of T. Fisher sends to Chicago 
yearly a large amount of brooms. 



FACTS AND FIGURES. I95 

A fifth contrast, that exhibits one law of growth, is in 
the amount of land held by single individuals. The 
squatters allowed to one individual only two hundred 
acres. Many actual settlers entered only eighty or one 
hundred. The following table presents a view for 1872 
of a few 

LARGE LAND HOLDERS. 

Of these some are non-residents. A. N. Hart, a resi- 
dent at Dyer, but doing business in Chicago, holds some 
15,000 acres. Estimated value of his estate, $500,000. 

NON-RESIDENTS. 

Dorsey & Cline, 10,000 or 12,000 acres; Forsyth, 

about 8,000 ; G. W. Cass, 9,577 ; J. B. Niles, about 1,800 ; 
Dr. Hittle, 1,200 ; D. C. Scofield, about 1,000. 

RESIDENTS. 

Estate of J. W. Dinwiddie, about 3,500; Wellington A. 
dark, 1,320. 

The value of the real estate of the county may be put 
down at ^10,000,000. This would give, to each family, 
if equally divided, $4,000. But, as elsewhere in the 
world, property is here unequally divided. A few fami- 
lies hold real estate in round numbers, in the following 
amounts: A. N. Hart, $500,000; Mrs. M. J. Dinwid- 
die, $125,000. 

NON-RESIDENTS. 

Gen. Cass, $150,000; Forsyth, $250,000; Dorsey 

& Cline, $150,000 ; total, $1,175,000. 

It thus appears that ten families own about one-sixth 
of the area of the county, and that six families own more 
than one-tenth, in value, of the real estate of the county. 

Another great contrast appears in examining the dis- 
trict schools, the buildings, the teachers, the wages or 



196 LAKE COUNTY. 

salary paid, and the mode of licensing the teachers. In 
1847 Solon Robinson wrote, referring back to 1841 : 
" This year a frame school house was built in Crown 
Point, which was the first respectable one in the county^ 
and I fear that the same remark is still too true ; for a 
decent provision for schools has hardly yet been made in 
any district of the county. And I don't mean to be un- 
derstood that the Crown Point school house is at all 
worthy the name of a decent one for the place, for it is 
not; although it is better than the little old blank log 
cabin which was in use previous to the building of this 
one." Now, if the writer of the above could look over 
the county, and see the eighty-four neat and commodi- 
ous school houses, attend a teachers' examination, and 
an institute, and visit some of the schools when in ses- 
sion, he would find a very marked improvement. The 
days of the log school houses and the oiled paper win- 
dows in Lake county are past. 

One more contrast may be presented. The registering 
of claims ceased in 1837 ; about five hundred names are 
attached to the Constitution of the Squatters' Union, 
some of these however were in what became Poter 
county; and of our five hundred square miles of surface, 
one hundred sections in the north part were considered 
for several years to be unfit for cultivation and almost 
worthless, and seventy-five more lay in the Kankakee 
marsh ; yet, when I first looked over the county as a boy, 
in 1837, the large prairie region, of some two hundred 
and fifty square miles, was almost unbroken by fence or 
furrow. The smoke of no cabin curled upward over the 
open prairie, no domestic animal was seen at any distance 



FACTS AND FIGURES. 197' 

from the groves and the woodland, all life except the 
wild life was confined to the sheltering shade of the oak 
and the hickory trees. But now, in the very centre of 
our largest prairies are farmhouses, and gardens, and 
orchards, and the large pasture grounds of twenty years 
ago are all enclosed by fence or hedge. The droves of 
cattle first pressed outward over the green savannahs and 
man followed. The cattle destroyed the polar plants, and 
the prairie dock, and the immense beds of flowers, and 
cropped to the earth the grass that once grew so tall. 
The wild prairie beauty long since departed. Time was 
when we could roam these wilds along many and many a 
mile ; the grass tall, waving, and trackless ; the phlox 
of different colors, as elegant and as luxuriant as in East- 
ern cultivated garden beds, in almost boundless profus- 
ion ; the other bright-colored native flowers abundant in 
July, and August, and September; the tall polar plant, 
with its sunflower stalk from five to seven feet in height, 
and its clusters of yellow blossoms, and its bottom leaves 
two and three feet in height, forming a continuous suc- 
cession of rich forest-like herbage of bright yellow and 
green ; every now and then scaring up the grouse, the 
quick, thundering sound of whose wings would startle 
both horse and rider; occasionally coming near to a wolf 
and sending him away on a low and not rapid lope ; and 
again seeing at a distance the tall sand-hill cranes, and 
sometimes even a herd of bounding deer. But now all 
is changed except the contour of the ground. Lake 
Prairie was nearly all enclosed, no range left for stock, in 
1870. The prairie, northeast of Crown Point, was so 
fenced up, as to make the road a continuous lane, in 1871. 



198 LAKE COUNTY. 

And this year, 1872, with the long lines of wire and 
board fence erected by Judge Niles, and others, sees the 
broad southern portion of Robinson's Prairie nearly all 
enclosed. The appearance of the prairie of 1872 is 
vastly unlike that of 1834. Farms and neat residences 
dot it all over now. It was in its native wildness and 
beauty then. A sweeping prairie fire can be seen no 
more. The prairie hens find few places in which to make 
their nests, and are almost destroyed ; the wolves have 
few mounds left in whose sides to make their dens. The 
timid deer has become a stranger to its old haunts and 
would not know its once safe retreats. The wild fowls 
in the spring and fall still darken our waters, but they 
rear their young amid the surroundings of other regions 
now. Among our northern sand hills is heard nearly 
every hour the steam whistle ; across our prairies there 
courses rapidly and frequently the iron-horse ; on the 
Kankakee islands and in the marsh itself settlements are 
now made ; and soon the engines will be running and 
drawing their ponderous burdens through that once al- 
most impenetrable morass that skirts our southern bor- 
der. No wonder the wild geese and swan seek other 
summer haunts where they may rest in solitude and hear 
no screams except their own. 



INCIDENT AND ITEMS. I99 



CHAPTER X. 

INCIDENTS AND ITEMS. 

In this chapter and under the above heading will be 
found a variety of facts that have found no place for in- 
sertion elsewhere, and yet seem to me worthy of record 
as carrying out the design of this work. Some of them 
are of special, and I trust most of them will prove to be 
of general interest. In the first sketch will be found a 
notice of one of our relics of the past. 

CEDAR LAKE 1670 OR 1680. 

Two hundred years ago ! Who lived around those 
waters then ? Who admired the summer and autumn 
beauty which nature has lavished so richly there ? Who 
■can tell anything of that dim past ? The mementoes of 
that age are silent. They are the water and the sands 
upon the shore, the unchanged banks, the ancient oaks, the 
pebbles, and the few old rocks. From one of these ma- 
jestic oaks a different memento and witness has been 
obtained. 

THE NAIL. 

It is called a nail, but for what it was made, or how, 
■or by whom used, what human witness can testify ? None. 
Surely none. It was found some twenty years ago in or 



200 LAKE COUNTY. 

near the heart of an oak, outside of which were layers 
of wood one hundred and seventy. According to the 
method of calculation employed by woodmen, about twO' 
hundred years ago this small instrument of steel, now in 
the possession of Mrs. M. J. Cutler, at Kankakee, found 
a lodging place in that then young oak. It is about one 
inch and a quarter in length. The shaft is round, about 
the size of the large end of a clay pipe stem. The head 
on the top is flat and very smooth, and, besides this sur- 
face, it has twelve small plain sides, each smooth and well 
wrought. The point end is not a point, but has an edge 
like an axe. It is supposed to be of European workman- 
ship, but the hands that made it, unquestionably human 
hands and skillful hands, have long since been dust, and 
the shop where it was made has probably long ago ceased 
to be a European workshop. But how came it at Cedar 
Lake two hundred years ago 1 Did not Indians then 
roam through these woods, catch fish in the waters, pad- 
dle their canoes over the lake, and pitch their wigwams 
on its banks .'' It was only fifty years after the Pilgrims 
landed at Plymouth Rock. Had articles of English man- 
ufacture gone westward then a thousand miles } Had 
this identical piece of steel indeed come over in the May 
Flower, coming at length into the hands of descendants 
of the Puritans, who, some two hundred years after that 
landing sought a home in the free, wild West.' It might 
have been so. Perhaps Indian Avomen used it to cut 
holes in the deer hides and buffalo robes, in which to 
place the sinews or strips of bark with which they sewed 
together the coverings of their wigwams, the skins that 
formed their couches, the mantles for their winter cover- 



INCIDENTS AND ITEMS. 20I 

ing. And perhaps some toil-worn mother, or young 
maiden learning the simple domestic handicraft that 
would fit her for the duties of a wife to a red warrior in 
the Red Cedar haunts, placed the instrument in the bark 
of a sapling, near the door of the wigwam, that it might 
be out of reach of the little boys eager to use and appro- 
priate articles as rare as this must have there been; and, 
in the hurry of a sudden departure, when the tents were 
struck, and ponies loaded, this little instrument was for- 
gotten. And having crossed the ocean, and penetrated 
a thousand miles into the deep American wilds, nature 
reclaimed its own, and not the earth but the wood, cov- 
ered it from human eyes, took it out from the range of 
human hands. Perhaps! But who can tell its story ? 
It has no tongue to speak ; but it says white man made, 
European tools probably fashioned, hammer, and anvil, 
and forge gave it form. And the tree says, about td'o 
hinuired years I 

But again; perhaps white man's hands not only fash- 
ioned this instrument but also put it into the young oak. 
Perhaps a white man looked upon the lake of the Red 
Cedars within sixty years after the landing on Plymouth 
Rock. What says authentic history 1 A Genoese navi- 
gator, in Spanish vessels, discovered in 1492 the New 
World. An English explorer, a Cabot, in 1499, sailed 
along the North American coast. A Spanish settlement 
was first made in 1565. A permanent English settlement 
was commenced in 1607. The Dutch first settled on 
American soil in 16 14. New England settlements began 
in 1620. But the English remained along the Atlantic 
coast. The Spanish kept along the Gulf and up the Mis- 



202 LAKE COUNTY. 

sissippi. The Northwest seems to have been first exj^Iored 
by the French. By them Detroit was commenced in 
1670, some two hundred years ago. 

Two distinguished names of those then exploring 
Western wilds are La Salle and Hennepin. Louis Hen- 
nepin was a Franciscan. His name may be found in the 
records of events in Europe in the seventeenth century. 
He came to America. He joined La Salle's expedition,, 
which set forth in 1679. The voyagers passed through 
lakes Erie, Huron, and Michigan, to the mouth of the 
St. Joseph's river. They ascended that river in canoes 
to the portage. They carried these across five or six 
miles to the Kankakee. They passed down that river, 
and down the Iroquois, to the Illinois, and to the place, 
or near the place, now called Peoria. La Salle returned 
to Fort Frontenac for supplies. He instructed Henne- 
pin to explore. In February, 16S0, Hennepin set out in 
a canoe on a voyage of discovery. He followed the Illi- 
nois to its mouth, ascended the Mississippi to the falls of 
St. Anthony, upon which he was the first European to 
look, reaching this point April 30, 1680. He traveled 
for some hundred and eighty miles along a river which 
he called, in honor of his patron, St. Francis, and visited 
the Sioux Indians. Remained about three months, ac- 
cording to his account a captive. He met then a party 
of Frenchmen who came by way of Lake Superior, re- 
turned with them to Canada, sailed from Quebec to 
France, and published, in 1683, an account of La Salle's 
expedition and his own explorations. 

According to the calculations made it was about the 
time of this expedition, under La Salle, that our nail was 



INCIDENTS AND ITEMS. 203 

placed in the young oak. But it does not appear that 
Hennepin saw Cedar Lake. He made a circuit around 
it, but his recorded route passed no nearer than some 
fifteen miles. Let us turn to La Salle. He left at or 
near Peoria to return to Erie, and Niagara, and Fort 
Frontenac, Did he return up the Kankakee } Or did 
he vary his route a little northward, arriving at the head 
of Cedar Lake, camping on that height for a night, and 
first among white men did he look upon that sheet of 
water.? Or if not he, some others of those roving 
Frenchmen may have reached that spot in their expedi- 
tions, a spot from whence one might journey to Lake Erie 
through woods, almost continuous woods, and to the Mis- 
sissippi without coming under the shadow of a tree, over 
a pathless prairie. The hand of a Frenchman evidently 
may have inserted this instrument of steel into the grow- 
ing oak. But for what ? Was it left by accident, or left 
by design ? Was it intended as a signal for some other 
explorer, as a memento, as a token of some kind, to in- 
form a brother of some mystic order, that another had 
there stood, or suffered, or sorrowed .'' Did its thirteen 
faces speak a language ? Conjecture alone remains. Re- 
corded history says nothing that will offer an explanation. 
It may tell of useful work, of weeks and months of toil- 
some wanderings, of bloodshed, of massacre, of a human 
life going out there in sight of the blue water two hun- 
dred years ago. 

This much is sure. French explorers passed near Ce- 
dar Lake at that time ; the Indians certainly lived there 
and had some intercourse with the French. I imagine 
La Salle himself, standing on that height, and for some 



204 LAKE COUNTY. 

purpose, which we can never know, inserting that instru- 
ment of steel within the bark of the young oak. And 
now, two hundred years afterward, into the hands of 
children of the West, descendants of English Puritans 
and French Huguenots, that durable metallic memento 
has come, perchance, from the hand of that noted explorer, 
the French La Salle. 

EXTRACTS FROM THE FIRST RECORD BOOK OF BOARD OF 
COMMISSIONERS OF LAKE COUNTY. 

" MEMORANDUM — FORMATION OF THE COUNTY. 

" By an act of the Legislature approved on the 28th 
day of January, 1836, the county of Lake was erected 
out of the counties of Porter and Newton, and comprises 
all that tract lying west of the centre of Range seven 
West, and North of the Kankakee River, which contains 
about Five Hundred Sections of land." 

Until February 15, 1837, it was attached to Porter 
county. 

ORGANIZATION OF THE COUNTY. 

By an act of the Legislature, approved on the i8th 
day of January, 1837, the county was declared to be an 
independent county after the 15th day of February, 1S37. 

On the 8th day of March, 1837, Henry Wells was com- 
missioned Sheriff, and by order of a writ of election to 
him directed, due notice as the law directs, being given, 
an election was held on the 28th day of March, at the 
house of Samuel D. Bryant, under the direction of E. W. 
Bryant, inspector ; and at the house of R. Eddy, under 
the direction of William Clark, inspector; and at the 
house of A. L. Ball, under the direction of Wm. S. Thorn- 
bury, inspector ; for the purpose of electing a Clerk of 



INCIDENTS AND ITEMS. 205 

the Circuit Court, and a Recorder of the County, and 
two Associate Judges, and three Commissioners of the 
County. 

By the returns from the several polls, duly made to the 
Sheriff, on Wednesday, the 29th of March, it appeared 
that for the office of Clerk, Solon Robinson had thirty- 
eight votes ; D. Y. Bond had twenty-one votes ; and L. 
A. Fowler had seventeen votes; and Solon Robinson was 
declared to be duly elected. 

For the office of Recorder, William A. W. Holton had 
fifty votes, and J. V. Johns had twenty-two votes. And 
said Holton was declared duly elected. 

For the offices of Associate Judges, William B. Crooks 
had fifty-one votes ; William Clark had fifty votes ; Sam- 
uel D. Bryant had twenty-eight votes ; Horace Taylor, 
one vote; and said Crooks and Clark were declared duly 
elected. 

For the offices of County Commissioners, Amsi L. 
Ball had seventy-eight votes ; S. P. Stringham, andThos. 
Wiles each had fifty-nine votes. The tie being decided 
by lot as the law directs. Amsi L. Ball was declared 
duly elected for the term of three years ; Thomas Wiles 
was declared duly elected for the term of two years; S. 
P. Stringham was declared duly elected for the term of 
one year. The said Commissioners, being duly commis- 
sioned by the Sheriff, appointed the 5th day of April for 
the first meeting of the board to be held at the house of 
Solon Robinson, the place appointed by law for holding 
the Courts of the County. 

"S. P. Stringham, P. B." 

The first meeting of this first Board of Commissioners 
was held April 5, 1837. 
17 



2o6 LAKE COUNTY. 

They appointed Solon Robinson for their Clerk ; 
adopted a county seal ; appointed John Russell Assessor; 
divided the county into three commissioner's districts 
and three townships, the townships having the same 
bounds as the districts and being named North, Cen- 
tre, and South ; ordered elections for Justice of the 
Peace in each township ; appointed Inspectors, and 
Constables, and Fence Viewers, and Overseers of the 
Poor for each township ; and formed road districts 
and appointed Supervisors. They also, at their sec- 
ond day's session fixed the constable's bonds at three 
hundred dollars ; appointed J W. Holton Treasurer of 
the County, and Milo Robinson Trustee of the Semi- 
nary Fund, and Agent of the Three per Cent. Fund, 'fixing 
the bond of the latter, as Agent, at three thousand dol- 
lars, and as Trustee at two hundred, and of the former, 
as Treasurer, at two thousand dollars. They ordered 
the Clerk to issue a summons to Samuel Haviland to show 
cause why his ferry license should not be abated, and 
made provision for county maps. 

They ordered a bounty of one dollar on wolf scalps. 

They instructed the Sheriff to prevent any person from 
taking pine timber away from the public or school lands of 
the county, and to bring such offenders to justice. 

They made arrangements for Grand, and Petit Jurors 
for a fall term of Circuit Court, gave some special instruc- 
tions to the Clerk, and adjourned until May of the same 
year. 

A certificate of one dollar wolf scalp bounty was 
granted to W. W. Paine, April 20, 1837, payable April i^ 
1839. 



INCIDENTS AND ITEMS. 207 

At the May Term the Commissioners granted a license 
to Vincent Matthews, to keep a ferry across the Calumet 
River, charging for the license two dollars, and establish- 
ing rates of toll, for a footman six and a fourth cents ; for 
man and horse twelve and a half; for a horse and wagon 
and passengers, twenty-five cents ; for two horses and the 
same, thirty-seven and a half cents ; and for cattle, horses, 
sheep, and hogs, three cents per head. This ferry was 
near the Illinois line. 

They also granted license to Henry Frederickson, Na- 
thaniel Davis, and John B. Chapman, proprietors, of 
Liverpool, " to keep a ferry on and over Deep River, in 
said town," charging them ten dollars, and fixing some 
ower rates of toll; and they granted license to A. P.. 
Bucklin, and Foster Murdock, to keep a tavern in the 
Itown of Liverpool. This license fee was also ten dollars 

They appointed Wm. N. Sykes County Surveyor, and 
Henry Wells, Collector of State and County Revenue. 

They granted licenses to keep tavern on the " Beach 
of Lake Michigan" and "the shore of Lake Michigan," 
to Horace Stevens, John Craig, and Hannah .Berry, on, 
the payment of six dollars each. 

I am unable to ascertain where Hannah Berry kept her 
tavern, but perhaps it was near Berry Lake, called on 
some maps, as I think inaccurately, Lake George. The 
proper Lake George is laid down north-east from Dyer, 
"water from one to eight feet deep." See Colton's Map 
of Indiana. 

The Commissioners also granted licenses to S. J. Cady, 
and David Gibson, for six dollars each, to keep taverns 
on the Sand Ridge Road. These two names and places 



2o8 LAKE COUNTY. 

are yet quite well known. The tavern stands on the 
shore of Lake Michigan are obliterated. 

The Commissioners also appointed Township Trustees 
for the following Congressional townships : 

Thirty-two, Range nine, Simeon Beedle, John McLain, 
Horace Wood. 

Thirty-three, Range nine, Jacob Mendenhall, Thomas 
Wiles, D. M. Dille. 

Thirty-four, Range nine, P. S. Mason, David Hornor, 
Daniel May. 

Thirty-three, Range eight, E. W. Bryant, Ephraim 
Hitchcock, Orrin Smith. 

Thirty-four, Range eight, Joseph P. Smith, J. W. Hol- 
ton, Milo Robinson. 

Thirty-five, Range eight, Jonathan Brown, H. D. Pal- 
mer, Jeremiah Wiggins. 

Thirty-four, Range seven, L. Hixon, Thayer, 

Lindsey. 

Thirty-five, Range seven, John Wood, Robert Wilkin- 
son, Wm. Hodson. 

Thirty-six, Range nine, George Whittemore, S. J. Cady, 
and Wm. N. Sykes. 

Road Viewers were also appointed to serve without 
compensation. 

One Stephen Smith was found retailing spiritous liq- 
uors without license, and the Sheriff was ordered to 
attend to him. Arrangements were made for building 
bridges, and other matters were arranged, and the Board 
adjourned. Record. "May 15. Smith appeared and 
demanded a license on an insufficient petition. Re- 
fused." 



INCIDENTS AND ITE]MS. 209 

May 29. — Licenses granted to Stephen Smith, J. S. 
Dille, and Thomas M, Dustin, to sell foreign and domes- 
tic groceries, and to Robinson & Co., and Calvin Lilley, 
to sell foreign and domestic groceries, and dry goods. 
Cost of each license, five dollars. License was also 
granted to Calvin Lilley to keep a tavern at Cedar Lake. 
Cost, fifteen dollars. Why he was required to pay more 
than the others does not appear. His was probably a 
large hotel. 

On the same day the sum of forty-five dollars was al- 
lowed to John Russell for assessing the county. 

M^y 30. — Joseph P. Smith was appointed School Com- 
missioner, and S. P. Stringham, Surplus Revenue Agent. 

June 19. — Permit granted to Russel Stilson to re- 
tail goods, and keep a tavern in Liverpool. 

July 17. — Permit granted to Benjamin Rich to keep a 
tavern in Liverpool. 

July 31. — Permit to Samuel Miller to retail foreign 
merchandise at his store on Deep River. 

In August, 1837, was held the first general election. 
Candidates for State Senator that year were : J. H. Brad- 
ley, who received forty-nine votes; and C. Cathcart, who 
received eighty-six votes. 

The candidates for Representatives were: J. Hammell, 
of Porter, who received sixty-five votes ; and A. L. Ball, 
of Lake, who received seventy votes. 

The candidates for Probate Judge were : Peleg S. 
Mason, who received thirty-five votes ; and R. Wilkin- 
son, who received sixty-six votes. 

H. S. Pelton was elected School Commissioner, and 
Luman A. Fowler, Sheriff. 



2TO LAKE COUNTY. 

Milo Robinson had been appointed County Agent 
June 5th. 

November 16. — Liverpool ferry license revoked. 

November 17. — Abner Stillson, Jr., was appointed, un- 
der certain provisions, to keep the Liverpool ferry. 

The same day a new county seal was adopted, " the 
impress of which represents a ship under full sail upon 
water, and a foreground with a plow and sheaf, and sur- 
rounded by these words, ' Lake County Circuit Court, 
Indiana.' " 

January i, 1838. — Joseph Jackson received a license 
to retail foreign goods and dry groceries, in the south- 
west part of the county, '' on a capital not exceeding one 
thousand dollars." Cost of license five dollars. This 
seems to be the first of the early merchants whose capi- 
tal the Commissioners saw fit to limit. 

PETER OLSEN DIJSTERND. 

Under date of this same, January i, I find the follow- 
ing : 

" That the Board will take the several accounts of the 
Overseers of the Poor of Centre Township, presented for 
expense of a transient pauper, deceased, at Aaron Cox's, 
under advisement until to-morrow morning." 

January 2. — C>;'^/,?;-tv/, " That the sum of thirteen dol- 
lars be allowed Aaron Cox ; that the sum of twelve dol- 
lars be allowed Jonathan Griffin ; that the sum of four 
dollars be allowed Horace Egerton ; that the sum of two 
dollars be allowed Calvin Lilly; in all, thirty-one dollars, 
on account expense of Peter Oleson, a transient pauper, 
under charge of Overseers of Poor of Centre Township." 

REMARKS. 

I am sorry to see, with my knowledge of the facts, the 



INCIDENTS AND ITEMS. 211 

names of old neighbors and friends in such an account 
as the above. For their sakes I would gladly have left it 
in oblivion; but justice and right are sacred things, and 
I propose to do that justice to Peter O. Dijsternd, which 
I would wish, in like circumstances, paid to my own 
memory. He was a young Norwegian, of fine appear- 
ance, well connected in life, passing through this region 
as a traveler, endeavoring to reach a settlement further 
on towards the southwest. He was traveling with an- 
other man in a buggy, and, being too sick to continue 
his journey, was left at the house of Aaron Cox. The 
other traveler went on his way. Peter O. Dijsternd was 
unable to talk English ; he might have had better care 
and attention than he did receive ; and in a few days he 
died. I saw his body buried, and, as an observing 
and pitying boy of eleven years of age heard some 
■of the side remarks. x\ll the care and attention 
which he received was no more, was not so much in 
fact, surely no more than Western hospitality demanded 
from strangers to a sick and suffering stranger. And 
more. Aaron Cox soon afterward went southward, and 
after he returned, in some conversation where I was a 
boy listener, he, in mentioning inquiries or remarks about 
this young Norwegian, made where he had been, drop- 
ped the expression that he "never let on," It was then 
to me a new hoosierism, and I wondered what it meant. 
I know its meaning and can guess its significancy now. 
Surmises only I do not propose here to give. But still 
more. When the news of Olsen's death reached his uncle 
in New York City, that uncle, Peter Sather, a broker of 
aiieans, intelligence, and culture, came to Cedar Lake ; 



212 LAKE COUNTY. 

learned what particulars he could concerning his neph- 
ew's sickness, death, and burial; purchased, as elsewhere 
stated, the ground where he was buried; and returned to 
New York. Before me now lies the slip on which he 
wrote his own address, " Peter Sather. Exchange Broker, 
164 Nassau street. New York;" and his nephew's full 
name, " Peder Olsen Dijsternd, from Norway." Now, I 
am sure that the uncle who would leave his business as 
an exchange broker, in New York, and incur the expense 
of a journey to Cedar Lake, at that early day, to learn 
something about the death and burial of a young nephew 
who was probably just over from Norway and penetrating 
into the West to find a home, was not the man to have 
refused to pay any proper charges connected with a lone, 
friendless, sickness, death, and burial ; and the young 
Norwegian stranger, whose dust reposes in a mound near 
Cedar Lake, having such an uncle, was not a man whose 
mutilated name ought to stand upon our official records 
as a ^''transient pauper,'" whose sickness, and medical at- 
tendance, and burial, cost the county of Lake the sum of 
thirty-one dollars. It must have been a pauper's care and 
a pauper s burial that he received. It is not reasonable 
that this young Norwegian left his uncle's office in New 
York, to journey westward, without money or its equiva- 
lent. Whatbecame of his means I know not; but I pro- 
pose here to take out his name from the list of the pau- 
pers of Lake. Justice was not done to him by those in 
whose hands he died. I claim for his memory and rest- 
ing place the respect and care which are justly and richly 
due. Well as I remember that first burial witnessed at 
Cedar Lake, but a day or two after I became a resident 



INCIDENTS AND ITEMS. 2 1 3; 

of the county, and how much a small group of new set- 
tlers pitied the sad, untimely, death of that fine appear- 
ing young foreigner ; and distinctly as I remember the 
circumstances of the visit of the courteous, gentlemanly 
broker from New York ; I had no thought, till reaching: 
the written page before me, that such accounts were ever 
presented to our Commissioners. I hope not to die 
among those who cannot understand my speech ; or 
among those who could not give me shelter for three or 
four days, and then commit my lifeless dust to the earth,, 
without calling me a transient pauper. For the credit of 
Lake county civilization I disclaim this record. 
I here close the Commissioners' Record Book. 

FROM A PAGE OF THE CLAIM REGISTER. 
" LAKE COUNTY. 

" This county contains 508 sections of land, about 400 
of which are dry, tillable ground. To find the exact geo- 
graphical centre of the county draw a line east and west 
through the centre of Section 8, Town 34, Range 8, and 
it will be found that the south part contains three sec- 
tions more than the north half. Then draw a line north 
and south through the centre of the same Section 8, and 
it will be found that the west half contains 69 sections 
more than the east half. Now take the N. E. quarter of 
the county as divided by the aforesaid supposed lines, 
which contains 1081^ sections, and add it to the S. W. 
quarter, which contains 144%^ sections, and 253 sections 
will be found as the quantity contained in these two quar- 
ters of the county. 

"Then take the S. E. quarter,which contains 1105.^ sec- 
tions, and add it to the N. W. quarter, which contains- 



214 LAKE COUNTY. 

1441^ sections, and 255 sections will be found as the 
quantity contained in these two quarters of the county ; 
which is a difference of only two sections from making 
the aforesaid centre of Section 8, the true geographical 
centre of the county. 

" The tillable land is as equally divided between the 
.aforesaid supposed quarters of the county." 

THE TEN MILE LINE. 

In some of the deeds to be found in the Recorder's 
Office is the following boundary description : 

" South of Ten Mile Line on Section Thirty-two." A 
question arises, What is meant by this Ten Mile Line .'' 

On Field Note Records in the Recorder's Office, page 
53, is the following explanation of a line drawn east and 
west, " South Boundary of Ten Mile Purchase." On 
page 54 of the same Records this same line is called 
'' Indiana Boundary Line." The following is evidently 
the explanation of the two names for the one line. In 
the Constitution of Indiana, Article XIV., Boundaries, it 
is ordained and declared that the State of Indiana is 
bounded on the east by the western meridian line of 
Ohio ; on the south by the Ohio River from the Great 
Miami to the Wabash ; on the west by the Wabash River 
till leaving the main bank on a line due north from Vin- 
cennes, " thence, by a due north line, until the same shall 
intersect an east and west line, drawn through a point ten 
miles north of the southern extreme of Lake Michigan ; 
on the north, by said east and west line, until the same 
shall intersect the first-mentioned meridian line, which 
forms the western boundary of the State of Ohio." It 
is to be .supposed that the originators of this west boun- 



INCIDENT AND ITEMS. 215 

dary line expected that the northwest corner of Indiana 
would be on or near the shore of Lake Michigan, but it 
happens to be some distance out in the lake. The line 
drawn from the extreme south part of Lake Michigan 
to the west line of the State is therefore an " Indiana 
Boundary Line" and a Ten Mile Line, being the bound 
from which we are to measure ten miles northward into 
Lake Michigan to find our true northern limit. 

Again. In 1828 there was acquired by treaty with the 
Pottawatomies a strip of land ten miles in width along 
the northern boundary of Indiana extending, in a narrow 
strip, to the extreme south limit of Lake Michigan. The 
northern boundary of the State being then the same as de- 
fined by the Constitution, it is evident that the line bound- 
ing the southern limit of this first purchase would meet that 
other line at the south limit of Lake Michigan, and so 
both would form a continuous straight line. The east- 
ern part of this line in our county is therefore justly 
called " South Boundary of Ten Mile Purchase." 

According to Colton's Map of Indiana, "compiled from 
United States surveys," a north and south line in Indiana 
has quite a different direction from a north and south 
line in Illinois. If our west line had the direction from 
the Wabash River northward of an Illinois north and 
south line. South Chicago would be included in Lake 
county. As it now is, the northern boundary of our 
county, instead of being, as stated in Chapter I, of this 
book, the beach line of Lake Michigan, is a line due east 
and west on the surface of that lake ten .miles north of 
our noted " Ten Mile Line." All the fish therefore and 
fisheries connected with some one hundred and twenty- 



2l6 LAKE COUNTY. 

five miles of Lake Michigan belong, evidently, to the in- 
habitants of Lake. 

INDIAN FLOATS. 

An Indian " float " was something like a soldiers' land 
warrant. When this region was purchased from the In- 
dians, instead of their reserving certain definite tracts or 
parcels of land, the United States issued to some of their 
head men a number of land warrants or documents called 
" floats," by the possesion of which they were authorized 
to select and own so much land within the purchase, un- 
der certain restrictions. It is said that section eight, on 
which Crown Point now stands, was selected by an In- 
dian or his agent, and a float laid upon it ; but certain 
influences induced the Land Office Agent at La Porte to 
slip the float over, in his record, on to section seventeen. 
So eight was entered and seventeen, joining it on the 
south, went into the hands of a great fur trader. Floats 
were laid on only some ten or twelve sections of land in 
the county, and most of these were near the Calumet. 

INDIAN MOUNDS. 

Several of these were mentioned in Chapter III. I 
have since ascertained that there were very many in the 
county, on the islands of the Kankakee Marsh, on West 
Creek, west and northwest of Centreville, and probably 
elsewhere. Their actual number no one can now deter- 
mine. Some have been opened, and very large human 
bones have been exhumed. 

VIEWS. 

For a prairie region we have a few picturesque, and 
many beautiful, and some grand landscape views. Near 
Lake Station, from the summit of a sand hill, on the east 



INCIDENTS AND ITEMS. 217 

side of the road, the northward view on a clear summer's 
afternoon, contains picturesque elements. The eye rests 
upon a part of the valley of Deep River ; and just be- 
yond is the village of Lake, surrounded by hills and 
woods, the fans for raising water reminding one of Don 
Quixote's windmills, and the vegetation giving evidence 
of the beds of sand from which it derives its nourish- 
ment. 

The railroad grounds are the largest and neatest in 
the county, and the distance is just sufficient to give to 
the buildings a fine effect. 

Another landscape view, picturesque and truly pretty, 
appears from an eminence near the residence of W. T. 
Dennis. The northward view is of a small section of 
Deep River Valley, which there resembles a New Eng- 
land meadow; thick trees skirt the river, a part of the 
interval is covered with willows and grape vines, another 
part is a rich harvest field and meadow land, and over 
the whole scene the summer's sun spreads light and 
beauty amid the green herbage, and foliage, and waving 
grain. Of those views containing more fully the ele- 
ments of beauty may be named a few from the hill-tops 
of North Township, the sweep of vision from these ta- 
king in a portion of Lake Michigan's blue waters, and 
the pines, and sand hills, and valleys of the shore. 

Along the ridge between Deep River and Turkey Creek, 
as one comes westward, near the Red School House, are 
some fine views. Northward the eye glances over the 
woodland ridges running parallel with the Calumet, and 
southward and westward it takes in a broad sweep of 
slightly undulating prairie. From this ridge, across 



2l8 LAKE COUNTY. 

prairie and valley, Crown Point presents a very pleasant 
picture, as it stands forth in the sunlight upon its prairie 
and wood-crowned height. This town also presents a 
fine appearance, against the blue woods back of it, from 
a summit near the eastern limit of the county. South of 
the east line of Crown Point, along the north and south 
road on the prairie, are some very fine, perhaps grand, 
landscape views, extending over a magnificently rolling 
prairie, and across the dry and wet marsh to the Kanka- 
kee timber, which in the distance presents a long line of 
blue. On Lake Prairie also are some beautiful pros- 
pects, from some of the large eminences, the range of 
vision taking in the whole of that lovely prairie, bounded 
by that same blue line on the south, woods on the west, 
Cedar Creek woods on the east, and a glimpse being ob- 
tained from some heights of the bright water of Cedar 
Lake on the northeast, if the sun should then be shining 
down on its crystal depths. 

Another beautiful prospect appears, amid the sum- 
mer's sunshine, on the Joliet road, one-half mile west of 
Centreville. From the Stone Church on the northeast 
around the horizon, till the eye rests on the grove and 
valley in which was once McGwinne's Indian village on 
the east, the whole view is beautiful. And yet one more 
may be named ; the landscape that suddenly spreads out 
before one, who is coming northward in Eagle Creek, and 
emerges from the shrubbery on an eminence overlooking 
the region of Cassville. 

We have not, like the lands of the Old World, any an- 
cient historic records or traditions, linked with grove, or 
stream, or prairie slope, or even with the Lake of the 



INCIDENTS AND ITEMS. 219- 

Red Cedars. The Red Men's remains are all of human 
hopes and fears, that are associated with morass, or hill- 
top, lake, woodland, or plain, beyond the experiences of 
this generation. Leave them out of thought, and they 
are almost out of our knowledge, and our region, for its 
long great past, reminds us only of primeval nature. 

Amid such scenes, in whose vastness and wildness we 
laid foundations, the primative influence which natural 
scenery is said to exert upon the style and the taste of 
individuals may have moulded some minds into a pecu- 
liar love for untrodden wilds, and for freedom, and for 
magnificence. If it be true, as a certain critic, Gilfillan, 
states : " We firmly believe that the scenery of one's 
youth gives a permanent bias and coloring to the genius, 
the taste, and the style ; that is, if there be an intellect 
to receive an impulse, or a taste to catch a tone:" — then, 
in some respects, the impressible youth of this county 
have enjoyed in the past, and may still enjoy in the fu- 
ture, advantages for cultivating a love of native beauty,. 
and a love for an enlarged freedom. One reared amid 
our prairie prospects, accustomed to a broad range of 
vision, should take no narrow views of life's relations or 
life's duties. 

If the moors and mountain scenery of Scotland had 
much to do in forming the taste of a Pollok, the beauties 
of this region may yet form the taste of some noble mind 
in giving to the world immortal verse. 

GRANGES. 

Among our social orders is one, comparatively new, 
known as " Patrons of Husbandry." The individual or- 
ganizations are called Granges. 



220 LAKE COUNTY. 

This order was organized in Washington City, in Au- 
gust, 1867. It now comprises a National Grange, State 
Granges, and Subordinate Granges. It is a secret organ- 
ization, designed for the pecuniary, social, intellectual, 
and moral improvement of the agricultural community. 
It seems to be rapidly gaining favor in this country. In 
February, 1872, the State Grange of Indiana, and seventy- 
nine Subordinate Granges were organized. In this 
county are now three of these organizations : 

Eagle Grange, No. 4, organized June 28, 187 1 ; num- 
ber of members, 80. Lowell Grange, No. 6, October 12, 
1871 : number of members, 80. Leroy Grange, No. — , 
, 1872; number of members, 26. 

The organization in this county owes its existence to 
the enterprising spirit of Oscar Dinwiddie, First Special 
Deputy, who is still active in carrying it on, aided 
very much by the earnest zeal of C. L. Templeton, and 
other energetic farmers. O. Dinwiddie, and C. L. Tem- 
pleton are both officers in the State Grange, and members 
of its Executive Committee. 

I am at liberty to say that the Grange has a beautiful 
ritual, and that its practical teachings are fitted to im- 
prove and ennoble the families of the owners and culti- 
vators of the soil ; and the Grange influence in the south 
part of the county, where some of our wealthiest, most 
intelligent, and most energetic farmers reside, is certainly 
a felt and living power. 

STATE GRANGE OFFICERS. 

O. Dinwiddie, Overseer; C. L. Templeton, Treasurer; 
E. M. Robertson, Gate-Keeper. 

There are other ex-officio State Grange officers in the 
•county. 



INCIDENTS AND ITEMS. 221 

There have been Grange burials of the following mem- 
bers of the order : Charles A. Kenney, burial Novem- 
ber I, 1871 ; religious services conducted by Rev. J. 
Harrison. Norman Stone, burial September 24,1872; 
religious services by Rev. T. H. Ball. The Grange Bur- 
ial Service is touching, instructive, and impressive ; but 
Christianity only can give a certain answer to that great 
question, " If a man die shall he live again ?" 

The Grange interest is on the increase in the county. 
It is probable other Granges will soon be organized. It 
is time that the farmers were more energetic and united 
in promoting their interests, cultivating their social na- 
tures, and gaining useful knowledge. To the Granges of 
Lake I take the liberty of dedicating the following little 
poem : 

"THE INDEPENDENT FARMER. 
" Let sailors sing of the windy deep, 
Let soldiers praise their armor, 
But in my heart this toast I'll keep 

' The Independent Farmer.' 
When first the rose in robe of green, 

Unfolds its crimson lining. 
And round his cottage porch is seen 

The honeysuckle twining ; 
When banks of bloom their sweetness yield, 

To bees that gather honey, 
He drives his team across tHe field, 
Where skies are soft and sunny. 

" The blackbird clucks behind the plow. 
The quail pipes loud and clearly. 

Yon orchard hides behind its bough 
The home he loves so dearly ; 

The gray old barn, whose doors enfold 



222 LAKE COUNTY. 

His ample store in measure, 
More rich than heaps of hoarded gold, 

A precious, blessed treasure ; 
But yonder in the porch there stands, 

His wife, the lovely charmer, 
The sweetest rose on all his lands — 

' The Independent Farmer,' 

" To him the spring comes dancingly, 

To him the summer blushes. 
The autumn smiles with mellow ray ; 

He sleeps, old winter hushes. 
I He cares not how the world may move 

No doubts nor fears confound him ; 
His little flocks are linked in love. 

And household angels round him : 
He trusts in God and loves his wife. 

Nor griefs, nor ills may harm her ; 
He's nature nobleman in life — 

' The Independent Farmer.' " 

WEATHER RECORD. 
1835- 

Winter mild until February ; then exceedingly severe 
weather. April 4th, "A most terrible snow storm." 

1836. 
A very wet summer, 

1837. 
"A most excessive wet one." 
1838. 
A summer "of severe drouth and great sickness." So 
scarce was water that musk rats, " driven out of their us- 
ual haunts * * * were found wandering about in 
search of" it; and even went into houses and about 
wells to find some water to quench their thirst. One of 



INCIDENTS AND ITEMS. 223 

these animals entering the house of Solon Robinson, 
" never so much as asked," he says, " for a drink of whis- 
ky," but went directly to the water bucket. " During 
the continuance of the drouth winter commenced." 

1839. 

February 20. — Early in the morning a shower of rain. 
Cleared off warm. 21st — Very warm and cloudy. 2 2d — 
During the night a hard thunder-storm ; continued in 
showers all day; very warm like April. 23d — Raining 
during the night ; showers in the day time; very warm 
and foggy 24th — Rain continued; warm and foggy. 
25th — Cooler, but cloudy and foggy. 26th — Cloudy, no 
prospect of fair weather. 

In March, some cold weather. March 12th — A very 
hard thunder storm last night. i8th — Some thunder 
last night; showers all day. 19th. — Very pleasant all 
day. 20th — Rainy and showers. 29th — Rain all night ;,. 
showers all day. From these extracts I conclude that 
February and March of 1S39 were warm and wet. 

April 3d. — Commenced gardening. The winter of 
1840 seems also to have been quite mild. I make the 
following extracts : January i, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, pleasant, 
loth — Cloudy, foggy, and rainy, nth — Rained; somQ 
cold weather followed. 29th — Rained, 

February 9th. — Cloudy, spring weather; snow almost 
gone. i8th — Rainy and cloudy. 19th — Warm and 
rainy. 20th — Forenoon rainy. 22d — Cloudy and foggy. 
23d — Thawy and pleasant. 28th — Warm. 29th — Very 
warm. 

March 25th and 26th. — Plowing. 



224 LAKE COUNTY. 

1S41. 

January 31. — Very pleasant weather for some days; 
seems spring-like. 

March 22. — The first rain this year of any amount; 
frost nearly out of the ground ; the snow has been gone 
some time; the lake can be crossed with a boat, until 
within a day or two it could be crossed on the ice. 

The winter of 1842-43 was called the hard whiter , one, 
it was said, that would long be remembered. Many cat- 
tle starved to death. The winter commenced the middle 
of November. November 17th — Wm. Wells, "a very 
steady, sober, and stout, healthy man," perished with cold 
in a severe snow while returning home from mill. His 
residence was near West Creek, and he had been to the 
mill at Wilmington, in Illinois. He perished on the Illi- 
nois prairie. January 6th — A rain commenced ; a thaw 
followed. 22d — Snow entirely gone; frost nearly out 
•of the ground. 31st — A very severe snow storm all day. 
February i8th — The weather contiues severely cold 
%without intermission; sleighing good; forage for cattle 
scarce and cattle in many places dying. 

April I. — Snow deeper than at any time before this 
winter; from fifteen to eighteen inches in the woods. 
■J 2th — Alfred Edgerton crossed Cedar Lake on the ice. 
j5tl-^ — The lake is yet completely covered with ice, except 
at the shore ; no grass for cattle. 19th — Muddy. 27th — 
Comfortably warm, but frequent heavy rains. 

May 8. — Vegetation but slightly advanced ; cattle 
barely find sufficient food. And so ended, at last, 
■" the hard winter." 

Winter of 1843-44, mild ; summer of 1844 very wet. 



INCIDENTS AND ITEMS. 225 

Winter of i844-'45, unusually mild. May 6th and yth, 
hard frosts. Winter of i845-'46, less mild but "not at 
all severe." Summer of 1846 very dry. Long continued 
hot weather; very sickly. Of those who died this sum- 
mer a few were : Cornelius Cook, at Crown Point, June 
21, and on the same day, at the Belshaw Grove, Ann Bel- 
shaw, of Lake Prairie ; September 28, at Cedar Lake, Mrs. 
Rasgen ; and, also at Cedar Lake, October 25, Mrs. Eliza- 
beth Horton, mother of Mrs. J. A. H. Ball, who came 
from the city of New York, in 1838, to reside with the 
Ball family at Cedar Lake. 

The summer of 1838 and 1846 are the two most noted 
for sickness in the annals of Lake. Both were very dry 
seasons. The fall of 1846 was late and warm. Some 
apple blossoms opened. October 13th — A light frost. 
20th — A hard frost. November 17th — Weather continues 
mild, seldom any frost. 25th — The ground not yet 
frozen. 

Winter of i846-'47, mild. Summer of 1849 wet. High 
waters in July. The cholera prevailed in the west. 

1852. 

February and March were mild ; rain in each month. 
Muddy in February. Li March it became cold. April 
3d — Snow fell about four inches. 5th — Snowed all day, 
nth — No grass or plowing; cold and backward spring. 
20th — Grass not sufficient for cattle to do well. 

May I. — Cattle do not get filled on grass, yet can live. 

1853- 
Another backward spring. Diary entries. April 12th — 

It has been very dry ; to-day heavy rain ; grass grows 

slowly ; cattle can barely live ; out of hay. 26th — Grass 

is not sufficient, yet cattle live. 



226 LAKE COUNTY. 

May I. — Peach trees in blossom this morning, nth — 
This is the fourteenth day in succession it has rained. 
The sun has not shone twelve hours during the time. 

Winter of i855-'56 snowy and cold. Winter of i856-'57 
severe, with deep, drifting snows. 

1857- 
Crops were unusually late in the summer of 1857 ; corn 

very small July 4th. No winter grain, rye or wheat, cut 
till in August ; the yield was nevertheless good. The 
crop of spring wheat was considered the best ever raised 
in the county. S. Ames, from three acres sowed May 
ist, gathered ninety-six bushels. Some raised forty bush- 
els on an acre. Corn was sold that season for fifteen 

cents a bushel. 

1858. 

A wet spring and summer. The wild geese left the last 
of Jannary and returned March loth. 14th — Frogs ap- 
peared ; rain and thunder i6th and 17 th ; hard rain from 
southwest. 

May 14. — Very wet time. 23d to 30th — Unusual 
showers, with thunder. 24th — Very wet till June 4th. 

June 10. — Flood of rain. Cold afterward. 

July 8th and 9th. — Mercury 100.° nth — Good rain. 
31st and August 2d — Hard showers, hail and wind. 26th 
— Hard rain. 

September 8. — Very great rain. loth — A splendid 
comet appeared ; very brilliant for several weeks. 

October 6. — Hard rain. 

November 27th and 28th. — Heavy fall of snow, rain, 
and sleet. 

December 3. — Snow storm. 4th — Hard rain ; high 
water. 



INCIDENTS AND ITEMS. 227 

1859. 

A cold and backward spring. April 8th to 14th, snow. 

June 5. — Very white frost, nth — Frost. 

July 4. — Light frost. Afterward hot. 12th — Mercury 
104° from 10 A. M. to 4 p. M. 13th, 104°. 15th, los" 
at noon, i6th, 102° from 12 m. to 5 p. m. 17th, 100° at 
I P.M. i8th, 104° at I p. M. 

In September light frosts. 

In October hard frost ; cold, some snow. 
i860. 

January I. — Mercury — 22"='. 2d — 24°. 5th — 17°; 6th — 
hard sleet ; trees bent down. 

April 27. — Hard frost. 

June I. — Light frost. 

August 10, 12, 14. — Light frosts. 
1861. 

May 2. — Hard frost. 3d — Heavy rain ; 4th — Hard 
frost. 5th — Tornado, hail and rain. 30th — White frost. 

July 2. — Light frost. 

October 13. — Frost. 24th — A freeze. 
1862. 

March 20 and 21. — Snow fell for twenty-four hours. 

April 2. — Terrible wind and rain. 4th — Severe hail, 
stones larger than hickory nuts. 2 1 st — Hard snow storm. 
22d. — Ground white. 

May 20. — Hard frost. 

June 9. — White frost. 

July 19. — Terrible storm. 

December. — Mild ; no sleighing. 
1863. 

January i. — Rain. 2d — Terrible rain ; mercury rang- 



228 LAKE COUNTY. 

ing from 6° to 50*. Wild geese around ; crane's and wild 
geese occasionally all winter. A cool summer followed. 
Frost every month this year. August 2d — Mercury 98°. 
3d, 100°. 8th, 99°. 30th — Hard frost; killed vines 
and corn. 

October 30. — Snow storm. 31st — Snow three or four 
inches in depth. 

1864. 

January i. — An intensely severe day; known as the 
cold New Years. Wind and snow; mercury — 20°. 2d — 
Mercury — 18°. 3d and 4th — Mercury o. 5th — 6°. ■6th 
and 7th — 20°. 8th — 16°. 9th — 7°. nth — 5'. 12th, 22°. 
Winter weather till 23d, when snow disappeared. From 
23d to 29th mercury from 30° to 64°; April weather. 
31st — Rain ; frost out of the ground. Like spring till 
February i6th. 

March i to 10. — Pleasant; robins, blue birds, larks 
and frogs around. 

April 14. — Hot, cold, rain, hail. Mercury from 60° to 
40=. 

July 16. — Mercury 100°. Frosts in September. In 
November, Indian summer. In December mercury be- 
low zero, six different times from four degrees to sixteen 

degrees below. 

1865. 

February was a mild and pleasant month. Last week 
in March and first week in April very fine and warm. 

June 20. — Terrible hail, wind, and rain ; much damage 
was done. Marks of the hail storm remained for years. 

July I to 9. — Warm. 9th and loth — Cold rain. 15th 
— Cold rain. Most of the month wet and cold. 



INCIDENTS AND ITEMS. 229 

August 2. — Terrible rain, thunder, and lightning. 

October 19 and 20. — First frost to nip vines. 28th — A 

snow storm. Indian summer in November. A fine 

month for corn husking. 

1866. 

February a cold month. Mercury below zero on sev- 
eral days. i6th — 22°. 

March 19. — Four inches of snow. 20th — Rain, hail, 
and thunder. 

May 22, 23, 24. — Frosts. 26th and 27th — Hard rain; 
had been dry before. 

September i to 15. — Wet and Cold. 2 2d — Frost that 
killed vines and injured corn. 

December 10. — Mercury — 3°. i6th — Seven inches of 
snow. 31st — Mercury — 4°. 

1867. 

January 17. — Mercury — 13°. 

February 10. — 12°. 

May I. — Hard frost. Last of May and first of June 
very warm. 

June 7. — Mercury 100°. June a warm and dry month. 

July 23. — Mercury 100°. 

August. — A very dry and warm month. 9th to 12th — 
Mercury 100°. 31st. — A fine rain. 

September 15. — Mercury 94°. Again dry; some 
showers. 

October. — Some showers. The month for the most 
part dry and pleasant. 

November 3. — Thunder, hail and rain. A wild month. 
24th — Very warm. 29th — Grew cold. 

In December some cold weather. 27th — Mercury at 
54 . Still very dry. Thus closed a remarkable season. 



230 LAKE COUNTY. 

1868. 

January was a month of steady cold weather. 

February a dry month. 

March a warm, pleasant month. 4th to 12th — Frogs, 
blue birds, robins, and all signs of spring abundant. 

First week in April, cold. 

May II to 20. — Very warm. Mercury 90° to 96°. 

A very dry June, yet crops looked well. 

July was a very hot month, with frequent showers. 
Mercury at 94, 96, 99, 102, 103, and July 15, 105°. 

First week in September pleasant and dry ; afterwards 
rain. 17th — A hard frost, killed everything. Frosts also 
on the i8th, 21st and 23. 

December 10. — Mercury — 18°. nth — 16°. December 

closed with rain. 

1869. 

January. — The trees were for some days heavily loaded 
with ice ; many were broken. The month mild. 4th — 
Mercury at 47°. Wild geese in this month. 

First half of February mostly pleasant. 7th, 8th and 
9th — Cloudy and warm, nth to 14th — Frogs, snakes, 
larks, etc., around as in April. Afterward some cold 
weather. Birds returned the latter part of March. In 
April trees again covered with ice. 

April was a cold and wet month. 

May and June wet. 

July was a very wet month. 

This summer may well be called the Wet Summer. It 
was a very poor corn season. 

The following are two records taken from The Cas- 

TALIAN 



INCIDENT AND ITEMS. 23 1 

"JANUARY 1869. 

" The month Jjust closing has been remarkable, in the 
county of Lake, for its even temperature, its amount of 
sunshine, its mild winds, its general, uniform pleasant- 
ness. No snow of any amount since the sheet of ice of 
the first week, and very little mud. Excellent wheeling, 
no rain, no storm, day after day, week after week. South 
wind, southeast wind, west wind, north wind, east wind — 
still pleasant weather. It is said that such a January has 
not been experienced for some thirty years. For a win- 
ter month it has been truly delightful." 

" Cedar Lake, having been covered with one strong 
sheet of ice, then again all open, can now, in the latter 
part of March, be crossed with loaded teams. Quite an 
unusual occurrence." 

The following is another Castalian record : " During 
the year 1867 there was in our county one cloudless day, 
September 28th. On the 27th a speck of cloud was vis- 
ible before sunrise, on the 29th one was visible after sun- 
set. During 1868 no cloudless day was observed by a 
close observer. At Rochester, New York, some years 
ago, eighteen such days were observed in one year, and 
thirteen in another. There are few such days at the 
south end of Lake Michigan ; yet there are many delight- 
ful ones, the sky as deeply blue as that over Mount Au- 
burn, and fleecy clouds as beautiful and lovely as float 

anywhere." 

1870. 

January came in mild. Was noted for its rain storms 
of the nth, 14th, and i6th; the last attended with thun- 
der and wind. January 12th — Wild geese appeared. 
Mercury at 45°. 



232 LAKE COUNTY. 

May 4. — Mercury at 94°. May was a very warm and 
dry month. 

In June, some showers. 

July a warm and dry month. 

August also warm and dry. 

Killing frosts in September. 

October was a fine month. An excellent practical 
farmer makes this note. " Our best corn year." 

1S71. 

In January of this year were those remarkable days, 
commencing with rain and frost, and continuing so 
changeless, that gave us the most magnificent ice views, 
so far as records show, ever witnessed in this latitude. 
Commencing January 14, the sheet of ice continued over 
everything for two weeks. Immense damage was done 
to forest trees. Fruit trees were broken very much, but 
the injury to them did not prove to be serious. The 
winter scenery during those two weeks was indescribably 
grand. All the boughs of all vegetation were covered 
with ice that weighed the evergreens and smaller trees 
almost to the earth, and when the sun shone the brilliant 
crystals everywhere almost dazzled the eyes of the be- 
holder. One evening, during those two weeks, the rays 
of the setting sun, with the redness of a glowing summer 
brightness, shone upon the tree-tops, and they flashed in 
that red light as though hung all over with myriads of 
rubies. Such a scene of resplendent beauty none here 
ever saw before. The temperature day after day was 
mild; very little wind; considerable sunshine; but the 
whole world around seemed bound in unyielding fetters 
of ice. It was like living in a fairy land, or in arctic re- 



INCIDENTS AND ITEMS. 233 

gions without the cold and the darkness. Existence 
itself, amid such beauty, was a great delight. But rare 
elements of the magnificent in nature seemed to be com- 
bined, when at length motion again commenced in the 
outer world. Then at midday, in the usually silent win- 
ter groves, the continuous roar of the ponderous, falling, 
crystal masses, the breaking of loaded boughs as the wind 
began to rise and try their strength, the danger to which 
one was constantly exposed, were sufficient to rouse into 
excitement the dullest nature. 

Between Crown Point and Cedar Lake the road was 
rendered impassable for days by an icy blockade ; all our 
woods still show the marks of the giant power that was 
laid upon them ; the like in our history was never known 
before. The ice sheet extended from Southern Michigan 
in a south-westerly direction into Illinois ; its width being 
some twenty or thirty miles, and Crown Point lay near 
the centre of its course. At Chicago snow fell to quite 
a depth instead of the rain which here froze at the sur- 
face of the earth. 

February, like January, was a mild month. 

March 2d, mercury at 68°. 

In June the locusts came in immense swarms, keeping 
themselves mostly upon the forest trees. They were es- 
pecially numerous in the woods north of Lowell ; south 
and southwest of Crown Point ; and in the eastern por- 
tion of the county. These locusts stung the timber, but 
jio serious results followed. 

In October strong winds prevailed. The summer was 
very dry, and unusual fires raged along the marsh and 
in the islands of timber. It seemed as though what the 



234 LAKE COUNTY. 

ice and the locusts had left unharmed, the fires were com- 
missioned to destroy. The October fires of 1871, in and 
out of Lake, will long be remembered. 

Although a very dry season, and many wells failed, and 
cattle suffered severely from thirst, yet the corn crop was 
good, the oat crop was good, and grass was abundant. 

1872. 

The winter commenced with no heavy fall rains and no 
mud. In January there came quite a fall of snow and a 
few cold days, but on the whole the winter was mild. 
Spring came, and yet very little rain, no mud, no bad 
roads. Showers in the summer : very little rain. Vege- 
tation grows, but cattle suffer, wells dry up, and it seems 
as though the fountains in the earth would fail. Since 
1869 we have almost forgotten what a rain storm is or a 
muddy road. The summer of 1872 has proved an unusu- 
ally abundant fruit season. The corn crop has been 
abundant, the oat crop fair, and the grass crop good. A 
late and pleasant autumn with but little rain and no mud. 
No bad roads since the spring of 1870. 

And thus ends our weather record, extending through 
thirty-eight years, kept with more or less fullness by Solon 
Robinson, at Crown Point, the Ball family at Cedar Lake, 
and H. Wason, on Lake Prairie. At Cedar Lake ther- 
mometrical and barometrical observations were made 
and recorded for a series of years ; the former made at 
sunrise, noon, and sunset. Meteorological records ought 
to be continued in the county, as they may prove of in- 
terest and use amid the advances of science in the coming 
years. 



INCIDENTS AND ITEMS. 235 

CAPTURING TIMBER STEALERS IN NORTH TOWNSHIP, 

In our earlier years, when Chicago was beginning to 
grow, and builders wanted pine timber, the report reached 
the county officers that a party of their men were steal- 
ing some valuable trees among the sand hills. The proper 
papers, it is supposed, were made out, the civil officer 
summoned his posse, and as considerable force might be 
needed, the independent military company of those days^ 
Joseph P. Smith, Captain, was taken into this service. 
The party took dinner at Liverpool, and in the afternoon 
or next day, proceeded with great caution^ with drum and 
fife sounding (and, probably colors flying, how could the 
military march without), to the place where the tres- 
pass was committed. But to their great surprise the men 
with the axes were not to be found. The idea of meet- 
ing a charge led on with martial music, was too much for 
their courage, and they had ingloriously fled. George 
Earle footed the bills, which amount the Commissioners 
afterwards refunded, and the party returned laurelless to 
Crown Point. The timber, doubtless, soon after went 
into the Illinois city, and no money came to the lords of 
the soil. 

In contrast with the above item, in contrast as to man- 
ner and success, I place 

A NEST OF TIMBER THIEVES ALONG THE KANKAKEE. 

In later years, during that wet summer of 1869, the 
Kankakee River being unusually high and affording great 
facilities for rafting off the timber, a number of men were 
said to be trespassing upon those wooded islands which 
were miles away from the abodes of civilized men. The 
high water seemed to secure these timber stealers from the 



236 LAKE COUNTY. 

observation of the owners of the islands. The trees 
were cut in water some four feet in depth, and floated 
down to Momence, out of the jurisdiction of the State. 
Hearing of these depredations, a party of land-owners 
went out in boats to ascertain the facts and bring the cul- 
prits to justice. A number of rafts had gone into Illi- 
nois, but they found nine then in the river, of choice 
timber, from fifty to one hundred feet in length. One 
division had left the edge of the marsh about ten o'clock 
ta night. The moon went down as they neared the chan- 
nel of the river. The navigation up the stream became 
laborious and dangerous, requiring one in the prow con- 
stantly to watch the current, and one to steer, while the 
others rowed. Thus, in the silent hours of night they 
were approaching the camp of the unsuspecting tres- 
passers. Some of the oarsmen becoming exhausted, 
they finally moored to a willow in the edge of the cur- 
rent and lay on their oars and slept. Again pursuing 
their voyage they reached Red Oak Island after daylight 
dawned. Four men were arrested and taken to Lowell 
for trial. 

Another division o4 this party, with three boats, made 
in the day about thirty miles of marsh and river naviga- 
tion. They met with some interesting incidents by way 
of variety. One of the boatmen, "poling" his boat 
along, lost his balance, and succeeded in regaining it from 
the bottom of the marsh into which he of course plunged. 
Others met with similar mishaps. When about to leave 
the river, one young man, who had succeeded in keeping 
dry all day, proposing to perform one more feat, pushed 
out in a small trapper boat to try a shot at some ducks. 



INCIDENTS AND ITEMS. 237 

Drawing sufficiently near, he stood up and fired. The 
reaction of the gun, in that frail bark, sent him back- 
wards into the water, holding on still as he disappeared, 
to the destructive weapon. He secured a duck and also 
a duckings to the great amusement of those who had met 
with like accidents during the day. 

If not so successful as they hoped to be, the party put 
some stop to the rafting of their timber down to Mo- 
mence. 



The first settler at West Creek, R. Wilkinson, first Pro- 
bate Judge, had some rather provoking experiences with 
the Indians. He was raising the walls of his cabin, log 
by log, with the assistance of his son Noah and his wife, 
when fifteen or twenty stout Indians gathered round and 
looked on. As, by means of hand-spikes and mechani- 
cal contrivances, the three succeeded in getting the logs 
in place, the Indians stood round and laughed. And 
when a greater effort than usual was needful to raise some 
heavy stick, and it seemed likely to slide back upon the 
tugging toilers, the Indians continued to stand round 
and laugh ; until the vexed settler felt inclined to walk 
in among them with a hand-spike. They did not seem 
to realize the fact that a little help just then from their 
stout arms would have been very acceptable. They cer- 
tainly had not read the anecdote about Washington, how 
he once took hold and lifted ; nor could they have read 
Sir Walter Scott's Black Dwarf; or they would have 
acted with more consideration. The scene at that cabin- 
raising, if amusing and not very creditable to the Red 
Mens' thoughtfulness, is yet instructive. The three toil- 
19 



238 LAKE COUNTY. 

ing whites, genuine pioneers in civilization, rearing for 
themselves a cabin on choice hunting grounds, surrounded 
by some twenty laughing savages, show the difference be- 
tween the White and Red families of man, or rather 
between man now native and man instructed ; and the 
moralist wofild read a deeper lesson, the difference be- 
tween providing by effort for present and future wants 
and thriftless negligence. The log cabins have been re- 
placed by some stately mansions ; but where are now the 
laughing Pottawatomies .'' 

This same settler returning from the Wabash region 
with a wagon load of provisions, drawn by oxen, and ac- 
companied by one of his sons, having been absent many 
days longer than was anticipated, reached the bank of 
West Creek near night-fall, and found the water so high 
that his team could not ford the stream. Leaving the 
oxen to look out for themselves, and his son to sleep in 
the wagon, with some corn meal in a sack strapped on 
his head, he swam the creek and reached his home, dis- 
tant some half mile from the bank, and supplied the most 
pressing home want. The next day, trying in vain to 
borrow some good canoes from his Indian neighbors, who 
although not troublesome, do not seem to have been ob- 
liging, he brought his son over in a little "dug-out," and 
also an additional supply of provisions, and left the wagon 
for some two weeks, until the water abated. 

LONG HIGHWAYS. 

There is an old saying, " It is a long lane that never 
turns." Of the various wagon roads crossing the county 
in different directions, three are on continuous straight 
lines for many miles. 



INCIDENTS AND ITEMS. 239 

The north and south road, from near Hickory Top, 
through Winfield, on a section line one mile west of the 
Porter county line, is straight and continuous for about 
eight miles. 

The north and south road on the east line of Sections 
Eight and Seventeen, passing along-side of Crown Point, 
is straight for more than ten miles. 

The east and west road, the continuation of North 
Street, eastward towards Valparaiso, runs from the west 
side of Section Eight, on section lines, due east to the 
limit of the county, and continues on the same line till it 
reaches the Gates' place, from whence it bears northeast 
for a few miles into the city of Valparaiso. Length in 
this county, eight miles. 

BRICK DWELLING HOUSES. 

Of these there are few in the towns. Of farm houses 
built of brick, there are nine. Jacob Wise built in 1856. 
Thomas Hay ward built in i860. John Sturdevant 
burnt a kiln of brick and erected a house in 1861 or 1862 
at a cost of $3000. It is now owned by W. T. Dennis. 
Jabez Clark built a flat-roof brick on Lake Prairie in 
1861. Jonas Rhodes built about 1866. Dates of the 
others not known. 

NORTH TOWNSHIP. 

This portion of the territory of Lake is not productive 
in grain, nor in wool, nor has it any special manufactur- 
ing interest ; but its exports bring in a large amount of 
money. These exports are wild fruits, huckleberries, 
cranberries, and wintergreen berries ; also wild game. It 
is asserted by good authority that the fruit crop of North 
amounts to more in a season than the whole grain crop 



240 LAKE COUNTY. 

of Centre Township. Its natural features, as formerly- 
mentioned, are the sand hills, and marshes, and the wind- 
ing Calumet, and that great blue lake. The proximity 
of the northwestern part of it to Chicago, especially to 
South Chicago, is making the land quite valuable ; and 
when Indiana City starts again into existence and sixteen 
or twenty miles of the Calumet River — a great inland lake 
harbor — are, like the Chicago River, dotted with the 
white sails of commerce, and plowed by the noisy little 
steam tugs, those waste miles of North, that we used to 
consider so dreary and desolate, will be worth thousands 
and even millions of dollars. 

A glance at the map will suggest that, if the waters fail 
not, the ducks and the musk-rats, the hunters and trap- 
pers, must retire before the advancing interests and forces 
of commerce. 

The first white girl born in Lake county, so far as is 
inown, was Samantha J. Fuller, born May 5, 1837, a 
daughter of Oliver Fuller, who became a resident in Feb- 
ruary, 1837. 

The first brick kiln, near Crown Point, was burned in 
1841, by Dr. Farrington and C. M. Mason. Before this 
time the chimneys had been built of sticks and mud. 
Now brick chimneys began to appear. 

The first regular 4th of July celebration at Crown 
Point, on record, was in 1841, and S. Robinson's memo- 
randum of it, connected with a notice of the Temperance 
Society, is as follows : "And the celebration of the 4th of 
July with cold water and a pic-nic dinner was the hap- 
piest one, to some three hundred men, women, and chil- 
dren, that I ever saw." 



INCIDENTS AND ITEMS. 24I 

The first mapping in the county was done by Solon 
Robinson ; the maps being colored by Mrs. J. A. H. Ball, 
the first resident painter in water-colors. It seems 
strange that not a solitary one of the hundreds of those 
first maps, colored at Cedar Lake, can now be found in 
the county. 

The first cheese factory in our limits was started, in 
1867, by Wellington A. Clark, on his large West Creek 
farm. In one season he has made 20,000 pounds of 
cheese. He is still carrying it on successfully. 

In the fall of 1869, John Brookman, from Australia and 
England, came in with capital and enterprise, bought the 
thousand acre farm of W. A. Clark, north, of Crown 
Point, two miles from town, and erected a cheese factory. 
This was kept in operation for two seasons, and this year 
it has been lying still. 

The first butter factory was erected by D. C. Scofield, 
of Elgin, Illinois, in 1869 and 1870. The factory has been 
in the charge of H. Boyd and family, and has been doing 
a good business. 

This county has large tracts of excellent grazing land, 
and is well adapted for the raising of stock and for fur- 
nishing dairy products. The amount of butter exported 
from the county annually, is one of the large sources of 
profit to the farmers. When the Kankakee low lands be- 
come sufficiently dry for general pasturage, they can be 
dotted over with- herds and factories. 

SCHOOLS. 

The first school in this county was kept by Mrs. Har- 
riet HoLTON, the mother of W. A. W. and J.W. Holton. 
She is still living, with one of her sons, about six miles 



242 LAKE COUNTY. 

from Crown Point, and is now in her ninetieth year. Her 
school was kept in a private house, near what is now the 
Crown Point Depot, in the winter of 1835-1836. Num- 
ber of scholars, three. 

In the winter of 1 836-1 837, it is probable that two or 
three other schools were commenced, but concerning 
them I find no records. 

In 1838 one of the largest, and one of the best log 
school houses of the county was built at Cedar Lake on 
the land then held as a claim by Hervey Ball. In this 
house, which afterwards became private property, and 
which is still standing near the stately mansion of Henry 
H. Dittmers, were organized the Cedar Lake Lyceum, 
the Belles-Lettres Society, and the Cedar Lake Church ; 
and here for several years their meetings were held. The 
public use of this house extends from the spring of 1838 
to the fall of 1848. Many associations cluster about that 
well-built log edifice. 

June 10, 1839, Mrs. J. A. H. Ball opened a school at 
Cedar Lake, which became the first boarding-school of 
the county. Here were taught, besides elementary 
branches, elegant penmanship, drawing and painting, 
botany, natural philosophy, and " Polite Learning" — the 
name of a little valuable text-book which is now rarely 
seen — here, too,, surveying and algebra, Latin and Greek 
were studied. A few students of this county, and from 
Porter and La Porte counties attended this school. In 
penmanship, drawing, painting in water-colors, and in 
botany, the teacher has had in this region no equal. The 
boarders here were, Maria Bradley, and John Selkirk, of 
La Porte county ; Ann Nickerson, and Melissa Gossett, 



INCIDENTS AND ITEMS. 243 

of Porter county; and Augustus Wood, Abby Wood, and 
Sophia Cutler, of Lake county. There were some self- 
boarders and many day scholars. During some of the 
winters the school was taught by Hervey Ball, and day 
scholars came from the east side of Cedar Lake, from 
Prairie West, and from the west side of West Creek. 
Schools being commenced at other points, regular winter 
schools were not continued after about 1849 or 1850; but 
summer schools continued till about 1855. The Cedar 
Lake school therefore continued some sixteen years. It 
sent six students to colleges and seminaries, and fitted 
many for the business and the duties of life. 

The next boarding and academic school of the county 
was opened at Crown Point by Rev. Wm. Townley, about 
1848. This school was commenced in a room of the 
dwelling-house which he erected, the house on Court 
street, where Andrew Krimbill now resides, in which room 
for a short time Sabbath meetings were also held, and 
then it was transferred to the academy building, which 
has since become the Presbyterian parsonage. A num- 
ber of students attended, boarders and day scholars, — 
some well known names are among the list of students 
here — and this school achieved in its day a good success. 
In the winter of 1853 and 1854 this school was taught by 
Miss E. H. Ball, who had been teaching for some few 
years at the South, and returned to spend one more year 
of life in the home of her youth. In this school instru- 
mental music was first taught, a piano, probably the sec- 
ond one in the county, being obtained for the school and 
music teachers procured. One of these teachers was 
Miss Sarah Bloomfield, from New Jersey, a thorough 



244 LAKE COUNTY. 

music teacher, who afterwards married Ahnon Foster, 
who came in the fall of 1855. In 1856 this school closed, 
Rev. W. Townley soon after leaving for the West. 

The next select and academic school at Crown Point 
was carried on by Miss Mary E. Parsons. She 
was a graduate of the Mt. Holyoke Seminary, an earnest 
and enthusiastic friend of that system, following closely 
in the views and principles of Miss Mary Lyon ; had 
taught one year at Oxford, Ohio ; some three years at 
Greensburg ; and came to Crown Point with the hope of 
founding a Holyoke school, in 1856. She did not ifind 
all the encouragement she desired, there were other and 
different interests then beginning to unfold, but she 
opened an excellent school in a room of the Townley 
building, then owned by Judge Turner, and afterward in 
the hall room of J. H. Luther. With the exception of 
one summer, during which she visited Iowa, this school 
continued till closed by her sickness and death. She 
died November 14, i860. The school thus suddenly and 
sadly closed, accomplished much for the cause of Chris- 
tian education. By her death Crown Point and Lake 
county lost a most conscientious, devoted, self-denying, 
thorough, Christian teacher. Had circumstances favored 
her, and had life been continued, she might have accom- 
plished much more ; but she did what she could. She 
was one of a choice few. She spent her last years among 
us ; and her name should not be forgotten. 

In that same year of 1856 Dr. W. C. Farrington, with 
some others, was arranging for the founding of an acad- 
emy on East street, but he died, and that plan was not 
carried out. 



INCIDENTS AND ITEMS. 245 

The next schools, therefore, coming into this record', 
were those of 1865, which have been elsewhere men- 
tioned. 

The growth of the public schools, from one to eighty- 
four, has been indirectly noticed. 

Several of the teachers of these have taught select 
schools in the public buildings, when the public schools 
were not in session. 

A primary select school in Crown Point, conducted by 
Mrs. Sarah J. Robinson, deserves special mention. Mrs. 
Robinson was one of the best teachers of children that 
we have ever had in Crown Point ; kind, patient, loving, 
unselfish, and truly Christian. Her neatly furnished 
room was on Court street, north of the Rockwell House. 
She closed her labors here and, in July, 1864, went to 
Nashville, and entered the hospital in the service of the 
Christian Commission. She was also at Memphis,Vicks- 
burg, New Orleans, and again at Memphis. "She returned 
to Crown Point in September, 1865, in company with 
Miss E. Hodson, of our county, who had been for nine 
months in the same service in the hospitals at Memphis.. 
These two, among the noblest of the Christian women of 
the land, were our only representatives in the Christian 
Commission service among the hospitals of the Union 
army. Mrs. Robinson disposed of her school furniture 
to the Crown Point Institute, married Dr. Wm. H. Harri- 
son, an army surgeon, in 1866, and went with her hus- 
band to Mexico. 

One other school remains to be mentioned. About 
1866, A. Vander Naillen, a French mathematician, opened 
a school near Tolleston, in which he taught Civil Engi-- 



246 LAKE COUNTY. 

neering. In December, 1869, he removed to the City of 
Chicago, transferring to that place his school interests. 

FIRST NORMAL CLASS IN LAKE COUNTY OPENED 

AUG. 19, 1872. 
NAMES OF MEMBERS. 

Ida Toothill, Inez Wilcox, Emma G. Sherman, Louisa 
Hornor, Olive Kenney, Herbert S. Ball, Myron B. Smith. 
Course of instruction included thirty lectures on import- 
ant subjects, besides an outline of United States History, 
notes on Orthography and Geography, and some text- 
book recitations. Instruction was given in Physiology 
and English Analysis, and about one thousand selected 
words were written in spelling exercises. Length of ses- 
sion, thirteen weeks ; teacher, T. H. Ball. 

WOLVES. 

For many years the prairie wolves were abundant and 
annoying. The early settlers became very familiar with 
some of their habits and their depredations. Genuine 
inhabitants of the prairies, as their name denotes, they 
were also found in the neighboring woods ; and were often 
seen by day and quite regularly heard by night. Pigs, 
lambs, and sheep, melons and green corn, suffered from 
their voracious appetites. Although not considered very 
dangerous to human beings, the boy alone upon the 
prairie after nightfall, when he heard the quick, sharp, 
bark which he had learned to know so well, would nat- 
urally quicken his homeward pace. These troublesome, 
but romantic neighbors, were hunted down with dogs and 
horses, and shot, and trapped, as opportunity offered. 
But opportunity for trapping did not occur every night. 
After many trials one was securely caught on the west 



INCIDENT AND ITEMS. 247 

side of Cedar Lake. The trap was dragged quite a dis- 
tance, but the wolf was found in the afternoon of the 
next day, killed and scalped, and a bounty obtained. 
The dead body was taken off by living wolves a night or 
two afterwards, but what they did with it could never be 
ascertained. No more were trapped in that vicinity. One 
was aftewards shot, in the early morning, by a Cedar Lake 
hunter boy, who was taking his morning ramble, rifle in 
hand, and he returned home to report, quite elated with 
his success. He was accustomed to carry a trusty rifle 
and was noted for his unerring aim. Large quantities of 
game fell by his sure hand. 

A more successful wolf-trapper lived in the Myrick 
Settlement, south of Crown Point, Smith Snyder, who 
says he caught in a trap several prairie wolves, one of 
them, having learned to spring the trap, being at last cap- 
tured, when human thoughtfulness, more than a match 
for wolfish sagacity, set the trap bottom upwards. The 
wolf turning the trap over, it is supposed, as usual, to 
spring it, found to his astonishment that it sprung the 

wrong way. 

the wild cat. 

No really ferocious animals have been known in this 

region, but a true wild-cat or lynx was caught in 1837 or 

1838, in an alder thicket, then almost impenetrable, at 

the head of Cedar Lake. It was a fierce and formidable 

looking animal ; the fur was taken East by Job Worth- 

ington, then living at H. Ball's claim, on the lake; and 

the thicket was long know as the Wild Cat Swamp. Its 

recesses seemed almost impervious to the sunlight, and 

in mid summer it was covered with beautiful running 



248 LAKE COUNTY. 

roses. It has been, by its last owner, all cut down, and 
no trace is left of the wild-cat's ancient lair. 

THE WHITE OWL. 

During one of the very cold and snowy winters of our 
early times, a large white owl, not a native of this region, 
was shot on the west side of Cedar Lake. The bird 
seemed, from its appearance, so thoroughly protected was 
it from cold, and so white, to be a mountain or an Arctic 
denizen ; and it was agreed to call it a Rocky Mountain 
Owl, brought out of its usual range and haunts ,by the 
great westerly storm. I think no such owls have been 
seen in this longitude since that severe winter. 

THE BALD EAGLE. 

In 1857 a bald eagle was shot on the west side of Cedar 
Lake by David Martin, which measured from tip to tip 
of the wings, some seven and a half feet. These Ameri- 
can birds, formerly frequent visitors at that lake, have 
been rarely shot, and are now seldom seen. This is sup- 
posed to have been the last one killed around that lake. 

THE SWAN. 

In 1869, Herbert S. Ball, a boy thirteen years of age, 
coming up to his home at Crown Point, through the 
woods east of Cedar Lake, met a magnificent water-fowl 
which he captured and killed. The plumage was of 
snowy whiteness, very pure and beautiful. The wings 
extended from tip to tip nearly eight feet. The head was 
almost twice the length, and some three times the magni- 
tude of the head of a wild goose. Its neck was very 
long. Its wings were broad and strong. The long bone 
of the wing was in length nearly eleven inches. When 
examined at Crown Point this majestic bird was unhesi- 



INCIDENTS AND ITEMS. 249 

tatingly pronounced to be an American Wild Swan, of 
which a few individuals were shot in Cedar Lake by Al- 
fred Edgerton, a number of years ago. This is supposed 
to have been the last swan killed in this county, only a 
few flocks ever having been seen by the earliest settlers 
at Cedar Lake. 

The regular yearly visitors and sojourners at this sheet 
of water were various species of ducks, gulls, brants, 
wild geese, sand-hill cranes, blue herons, white cranes, 
mud hens, pelicans, loons, and, around it, fish hawks, 
and bald eagles. It is no figure of speech to say that 
some of them darkened the waters, and that others cov- 
ered it with snowy whiteness. 

PERIODICALS. 

The first printing in the county was done by Solon 
Robinson, who obtained a small press and some type and 
issued a little sheet occasionally. Some hand-bills and 
extras were also printed. The name of this occasional 
sheet is supposed to have been The Ranger or Western 
Ranger. No effort was made to establish this as a paper. 

In 1857, perhaps as early as 1856, Rodney Dunning 
commenced the publication of a weekly sheet called The 
Croion Point Herald. After issuing it for six months he 
sold to J. S. Holton, who discontinued its publication. 
He, in 1857, sold to John Wheeler and Z. F. Summers, 
who resumed the publication, changing the name to Crown 
Point Register. In 1862 Wheeler and Summers sold to 
B. D. Harper and A. E. Beatrie. In April, 1867, Harper 
sold to Samuel E. Ball, who Septemder 19, 1869, sold his 
interest to F. S. Bedell ; Bedell and Beattie continued the 
publication of the Register until the death of A. E. Beattie, 



250 LAKE COUNTY. 

in October, i860, when F. S. Bedell purchased the remain- 
ing interest and has since been sole editor and proprietor. 
The Register has a circulation of nearly 800, and the 
number of subscribers is rapidly increasing. It is Re- 
publican in politics. Its motto is, " With Malice toward 
None — With Charity for All." 

While J. Wheeler and Z. F. Summers were publishing 
the Register in i860 or 1861, B. D. Harper commenced 
editing and issuing a Democratic paper called The Jef- 
ferso7iian. It was printed on the south side of the public 
square, then removed to the "Chapman House," on the 
west side, and soon after was discontinued, the editor 
purchasing a half interest in the Register. 

In November, 1867, the Pierian Society of the Crown 
Point Institute commenced the publication of a literary 
journal called The Pierian. In April, 1868, the name 
was changed to Castalian, and the publication was con- 
tinued by the Institute. It became an eight-page monthly, 
size of page sixteen inches by eleven, printed at first at 
the Register office, and afterward at Chicago. Its literary 
character has been elsewhere mentioned. It exchanged 
with some of the best college papers in the land. Its 
last issue was March, 1870. At the next Teachers' Insti- 
tute a proposal was made to revive this publication, and 
the following circular was sent to the teachers of the 
county : 

" TO THE TEACHERS OF LAKE COUNTY. 

"Permit us to call your attention to the proposal made, 
near the close of our late session as an Institute, in regard 
to our adopting the Castalian as our periodical and organ 
of communication with each other. You will remember 



INCIDENTS AND ITEMS. 



25r 



the vote was taken to accept the proposal as there made. 
After a consultation held on Saturday afternoon, January 
7th, we propose to change the name Castalian to Teach- 
er s Repository^ to have a change made in the character of 
the paper corresponding to its new relations ; to intro- 
duce Educational, Literary, and Scientific Departments; 
a story for children in each number, and Queries, and to 
make it the organ of the teachers and schools of our 
county, and an efficient aid in cultivating our literary 
taste, and our capabilities as teachers. We also propose 
to make it of general interest as a literary paper for fam- 
ily reading. We now request you to take an active inter- 
est in the enterprise, to send your own name and the 
names of as many subscribers as you can obtain, accom- 
panied by the subscription price, to Mr. J. W. Youche, 
according to the following rates : 

SINGLE COPIES FOR ONE YEAR. 

To teachers and students 50 cents. 

Other subscribers 75 " 

Teachers of Lake, remember your mottoes, act with 

diligence, and let us do something worthy of ourselves 

and of our enterprising age. 

J.W. Youche, Jas. T. Herrick, A. J. Beatie, 

N. A. Sturges, O. F. Benjamin 

C. R. Jarvis, F. McDonald, 

Clemmon Granger, Anna Wilcox, 
L. R. Thomas, M. L. Clark, 

Charlotte Holton, E. Lathrop, 
S. S. Erb, Henry Basse, Jr.- 

A. L. Thompson, A. F. Coffin." 
A sufficient number of responses failing to come, the- 

publication of the Teacher s Repository was given up. 



Mary Martin, 
Jennie Belshaw, 
M. A. Foster, 
Helen Granger, 
Jas. M. Wise, 
E. McCaulay, 
W. E. Abbott, 



252 LAKE COUNTY. 

At Hobart a little sheet was published for a short time 
by Moses Hull, in the years 1868 and 1869. Its circula- 
tion was confined to the vicinity of Hobart, and it was 
probably not designed to be a permanent publication. 

In this year, 1872, E. R. Beebe started a weekly polit- 
ical and local paper, at Lowell, called The Lowell Star. 
It is an eight-page sheet, one side printed in Chicago, 
neat in its appearance, well edited, and apparently well 
sustained. It is Republican as to politics, and bids fair 
to live and prosper. 

In this same year, also, W. H. Ingram came to Crown 
Point and started a weekly political paper, under Demo- 
cratic patronage, called 77/1? Crown Point Herald. This 
paper advocated earnestly the election of Horace Gree- 
ley for President of the United States ; and soon after 
the result of the election was known it was sold to T. 
Cleveland, Esq., who is now carrying it on as a Republi- 
can paper. The size of sheet is the same as the Register., 
twenty-four inches by seventeen, four pages, and its 
motto is, " Independent in all Things — Neutral in Noth- 
ing." T. Cleveland, editor and proprietor. 

No records have been kept concerning the annual mor- 
tality in the county. The following persons, however, 
were known to have died between the spring of 1846 — 
the sickly season — and the spring of 1847 • Isaiah L. Bee- 
bee, David Currin, Dr. Joseph F. Greene, Thomas Hen- 
derson, Myiel Pierce, John R. Simmons, Thomas Gib- 
son, Jeremiah Green, John Hack, Jr., Cornelius F, Cooke, 
Judge Samuel F. Turner, Hollingshead, S. C. Bee- 
bee, David E. Bryant, Miller, Royal Barton, John 

Smith, Ambrose Williams, Livinggood, Simons. 



INCIDENTS AND ITEMS. 253 

MINISTERS OF THE GOSPEL ORDAINED IN LAKE COUNTY. 

N. Warriner, at Cedar Lake, in 1840; T. H. Ball, at 
Crown Point, in 1855; G. Lewis, at Lowell, in 1865. 

MINISTERS DYING IN LAKE COUNTY. 

Thomas L. Hunt, died July 21, 1853. He was pastor 
of the Baptist Church at Cedar Lake, and afterwards 
pastor at Crown Point. He was very self-denying and 
earnest in efforts to do good, and overtasked his powers 
of physical endurance. He was highly esteemed by all 
who knew him, and was the first and only pastor dying 
in the county. He died at the residence of his brother, 
James Hunt, and was buried in the Sanders Burial 
Ground in West Creek Township. His age was thirty- 
one years. 

Philip Reed, died January 3, 1863. He was an excel- 
lent man, a minister of the Moravian or United Brethren 
denomination, had a farm near Lowell, and often preached 
at that place. He went into the Union army and was 
First Lieutenant, Company A, 73d Regiment Indiana Vol- 
unteers. His dust also reposes in the Sanders Burial 
Ground in West Creek, 

Charles Barton, a Methodist Episcopal local 
preacher, residing at Centerville, died in February, 1872, 
in the 85th year of his age. He had been quite active 
and vigorous, walked to Crown Point and back, a dis- 
tance of twelve miles, the summer before his death, was 
a man of strong constitution, a native of New England, 
and had lived in the county some twenty-five years. He 
was a man of decided and strong views, an exemplary 
and consistent Christian. 
20 



254 LAKE COUNTY. 

OTHER LOCAL PREACHERS. 

George W. Taylor came to Pleasant Grove in May, 
1845, having a family of three sons and nine daughters, 
and opened a store in the grove where a villiage was be- 
ginning to grow. He was a Methodist Episcopal local 
preacher. Three of the family married in this county ; 
one is now residing at Crown Point, the wife of Hon. 
Martin Wood. In March, 1849, G. W. Taylor removed 
to Valparaiso, and September 13th, of the same year, 
died. 

M. Allman, a native of England, came from Michigan 
to Crown Point, in the summer of 1843. He was by trade 
a tailor, but soon entered official life, holding the office 
of County Recorder from 1845 to 1856, during two terms. 
He was instrumental in organizing the Methodist Sunday 
School ; with Rev. W. Townley, S. Robinson, H. Ball, and 
a few others, formed at Crown Point an evangelical library 
association; and preached frequently. In April, 1856, 
he removed to Michigan, and died there in December, 
1858, at the age of sixty-nine years. 

D. Crumbacker, who was, in 1843, on the circuit, re- 
turned to the county in 1846, lived at South East Grove 
a few years, and then returned to Crown Point. He was 
clerk in the store of J. W. Dinwiddie, then a member of 
the Indiana Constitutional Convention in the wfnter of 
1850 and 185 1, and afterward County Auditor. He and 
Rev. M. Allman were for years associated together, and 
were influential men in the county. He died at Wash- 
ington City, March 17, 1865, and was buried in the 
Crown Point Cemetery. He had gone to Washington 
with his family, after the Civil War began, and was hold- 
ing a clerkship there at the time of his death. 



INCIDENTS AND ITEMS. 255 

Both Rev. Mr. Allman and Rev. D. Crumbacker were 
more than ordinary men. Much of their active life was 
spent here, and they were efficient aid in building up 
good institutions. They were efficient preachers, and 
very helpful co-workers with the preacher in charge. 
The former was short and thick-set, in person, was an ac- 
tive member and President of the Lake County Temper- 
ance Society, often acted as Chaplain on public days, at 
the gatherings of the people, and was noted for his evan- 
gelical prayers. The latter was tall and rather spare 
in person, enthusiastic in temperament, a popular speaker, 
and was a general favorite for preaching funeral ser- 
mons. Associated for a number of years together here 
in public and religious life, we may suppose them to be 
associated together now where men rest from labors and 
where works follow. 

R. B. Young, was on the circuit here in 1853. He 
soon after settled in Crown Point, kept a drug store for 
several years, and became the owner of a farm. He is a 
strong temperance man, a bold and fearless advocate of 
what he believes to be truth, an earnest preacher, and a 
man of firm Christian principle. Although past the me- 
ridian of life he is actively engaged amid the realities of 
our daily life, and enters heartily into any great moral or 
religious movement. 

Smith Tarr came into Winfield Township about 1848. 
He resided there for several years, and has now for some 
years been a resident in West Creek, on the McLane or 
Belshaw place. He is a man of firm religious principle, 
and preaches occasionally, as duty seems to call. He 



256 LAKE COUNTY. 

has conducted the Sabbath School this summer at the 
Burhan's School House. 

George A. Eadus, a Protestant Methodist preacher, 
came into the county about 1859. He resided for a time 
at South East Grove, afterward he lived near the McCarty 
mill, and now resides in Pleasant Grove, on the Cleve- 
land place, having married Mrs. Cleveland. 

R. Randolph came from Michigan last year, and now 
resides at Centreville. He is comparatively young, and 
enters earnestly into the duties of active life. 

RESIDENCES. 

The five most costly country dwelling-houses, I would 
name thus : the Dittmers mansion, the Sturdeyvant brick 
dwelling, the residences of George Willey, of J. A. Craw- 
ford, and of Mrs. M. J. Dinwiddie, buildings costing 
from twenty-five hundred to three thousand dollars each. 

At first we built, without any iron, or brick, or lime, 
the small log cabins with " shake " roofs, mud and stick 
chimneys, and puncheon floors. Sometimes a few nails 
would find their way into a window frame or into a door, 
but none on the roof, and none in the floor. Less than 
forty years have passed, and neat $3000 houses can be 
found on the prairies. The $30,000 residences may be 
found in forty years more. The best building materials 
of the United States may now be quite readily obtained. 

THE KANKAKEE DETECTIVES. 

A number of years ago it became necessary for the in- 
habitants along the marsh to secure themselves against 
depredators whom the locality seemed to invite. One 
hundred men were organized in a band under the above 
name. These met with a number of adventures, brought 



INCIDENTS AND ITEMS. 257 

several men to justice, and established law and order in 
the community. 



Andrew Moore, who came in September, 1838, had 
quite a new country experience in going to mill. He 
went in November to Vale's mill, near Michigan City. 
The roads were very bad. His load was fourteen and a 
half bushels of wheat and one of corn. He was gone 
ten days. Spent fourteen dollars. Returned home, and, 
in a few days, 'the flour was all loaned to neighbors. 

WELLS AND SPRINGS. 

Nearly all of the early settlers used "surface water." 
That "spring" besides which Solon Robinson first 
pitched his tent was not living water, and the first set- 
tlers did not suppose there were, in this prairie region, 
any real springs. Probably the first well of which any- 
thing can now- be known, was dug by Warner Holton, in 
1835. He lived on what is now " Railroad Addition," 
near the present depot. He dug four feet. Water 
came in which supplied other families. When the water 
failed he dug deeper, and finally reached a depth of about 
twelve feet. 

Probably the same season. Judge Clark, who lived on 
Section Eight, near Dr. Pratt's place, dug some sixty feet 
and failed to obtain water. A well of some depth was 
not long afterward dug on the Pelton place, now Dr. Pet- 
tibone's, and water obtained. 

At Cedar Lake, on the Russell claim, a well vvas dug 
to quite a depth, and mineral water reached. It was used 
by different families, but was not pleasant to the taste. 
0:her families therefore dug shallow wells, ten or twelve 



25S LAKE COUNTY. 

feet in depth, in the low places. In the dry seasons the 
hooks or poles with which the water was drawn would 
sometimes be hidden, and some were actually compelled 
to steal water in order to quench thirst. But as the sur- 
face wells failed and brick began to be made, permanent 
wells were dug. The depth of these wells varies from 
some fifteen to seventy feet. 

At Shererville the wells are driven. The sand comes 
to the surface. The wells are shallow but the water is 
good. At Ross and ToUeston, and other villages on the 
sand ridges, the wells are also shallow. 

The dry weather of the last two years has caused 
many new wells to be dug. Some of these and a few 
others, possess some peculiarities. 

Thomas C. Goodrich, in the fall of 1871 dug, on the 
side hill of that broad ridge south of Turkey Creek, and 
near the base of the hill, twenty-seven feet, and then 
bored eighteen feet and reached water. The brick were 
then laid up about three feet, the bored orifice having 
been closed, and the workmen rested for the night. The 
next morning the well was filled with water to within ten 
feet of the surface, the supply seemed inexhaustible, and 
the walling up was abandoned. A second was dug, 
about ten feet up the hill, rise of ground about one foot, 
to the depth of twenty-seven feet. On boring twenty 
inches water was reached, the brick were laid, and the 
water came up to about eleven feet from the surface. The 
water is excellent in quality and abundant in quantity. 

A well on the Dittmers' place is impregnated with 
some mineral resembling Epsom salts. It is a very agree- 
able, healthful water. 



INCIDENTS AND ITEMS. 259 

The well at the cheese factory, north of Crown Point, 
was dug sixty-five feet, then bored twenty-seven feet. 
The water came up to within some fifty feet of the sur- 
face. 

J. H. Ball has lately dug two wells on his lots in Rail- 
road Addition, The first is twenty-four feet in depth, in 
which the water rose eleven and a half feet and there re- 
mains. The second is fourteen and a half feet, furnish- 
ing a supply, but no rise of water. These are about two 
hundred feet apart. Water is reached at different depths, 
but will generally rise several feet on Railroad Addition. 

The first springs discovered by the settlers were prob- 
ably on the west bank of Cedar Lake. One was on the 
Brown claim, and furnished sufficient water for one fam- 
ily for several years. The water was clear, pure, cold, 
and good. 

A second was known as the Gray spring. It furnished 
a large amount of water, which was sometimes carried 
more than a mile in barrels, conveyed across the lake 
in boats, and supplied several families. This water was 
cold and good, but strongly impregnated with iron. 

Springs were afterward discovered in various localities. 
Along West Creek, along Deep River, and even on the 
prairie. Some of these are quite large, but they send 
forth no bold streams. This is not a region of running 
waters and gushing fountains ; the streams are often slug- 
gish, yet are there among the grassy meads some sunny 
brooks, and quiet rivulets. 

SOUTH EAST GROVE. 

This grove is one of the largest and finest in the 
county outside of the Kankakee Marsh. In form it is 



26o LAKE COUNTY. 

circular, covering about one section of land. The cor- 
ner of sections One and Two, Eleven and Twelve, Town- 
ship 33, Range 8, is not far from the school house, in the 
southern half of the grove. The timber is mostly hick- 
ory and oak, much of it at present young and thrifty. 
Some of the earliest settlers here have been already men- 
tioned. There were two Flint families, the families of O. 

V. Servis, Gibson, Parkinson, Orrin Smith, Morris, 

and some few others. In the spring of 1840, Alexander 
F. Brown came to the grove, from the State of New York. 
He brought with him three hired men. He secured a 
choice location and commenced extensive improvements. 
While carrying on his plans, and having the ambition and 
resolution which would have been likely to have secured 
a large success, his prosperous course was suddenly ter- 
minated by an accidental death. At work one day, his 
horses took fright, he was thrown from his wagon, and 
died in about a week, October 21, 1849. His sons, John 
Brown, and W. Barringer Brown, at their father's death,, 
boys of nine and six years of age, are now among the 
most intelligent and enterprising business young men of 
the county. The former is now county treasurer, the 
other remains at the grove, on the farm. 

Other energetic business men settled at and around 
South East Grove. Wm. Brown, late a County Commis- 
sioner and now Township Trustee, came in 1843. John 
A. Crawford in 1844. H. Kingsbury came about 1847. 
James Doak came in the spring of 1852. George Doak 
came April 21, 1855. He taught at Plum Grove, West 
Creek, Orchard Grove, and again at Plum Grove. He 
married a daughter of H. Kingsbury, and now resides on 



INCIDENTS AND ITEMS. 261 

the Kingsbury place, one of the best winter wheat farms 
in this region. 

Several other families reside in the neighborhood who 
have bought farms in later years, and the congregation 
meeting at the Grove School House for Sabbath worship 
is noted for intelligence, good order, and generous hos- 
pitality. 

ORCHARD GROVE 

Is smaller than the one named above ; is pleasantly situa- 
ted near the edge of the marsh; and gives a name to the 
post office, store, and school house, of an intelligent, 
prosperous, farming community. The two Kenney, the 
Woodruff, the Handley, and Warner families, have long 
resided here ; and a number of other families in easy 
circumstances are living on the choice farms of this 
locality. 

PLUM GROVE 

Is east and a little north from Orchard, distant about two 
miles. It is small, is near the marsh, and now contains 
more crab apple than wild plum trees. The families of 
the neighborhood are the following : Mrs. M. Pearce, J. 
Pearce, O. V. Servis, Sen., W. Buchanan; Mrs. M, J. 
Dinwiddie, J. Dinwiddie, F. Westman, H. Deters; J. 
Hamilton, M. Nichols, J. Hildarbiddle, Mrs. Hale; W. 
V. Fuller, J. Filsinger, J. Alyea, Earl Brownell, Charles 
Brownell ; A. Mitch, C. A. Hale, C. Emmerling, M. Jor- 
dan, S. Hogan, and A. J. McCann. 

LOST ON THE PRAIRIE. 

Two have been mentioned who perished on the prairie 
from exposure to the cold. Many others were lost, but 
their wanderings and hair-breadth escapes are for the 
most part also lost. 



262 LAKE COUNTY. 

T. Fisher was returning in the spring of the year from 
Door Prairie, with a load of broom corn, and was over- 
taken by the darkness of a cloudy night on the prairie 
between Hickory Point and South East Grove. Some 
dangerous sloughs lay in that region. Missing the course 
in the gathering darkness, the horses soon came to a halt. 
To urge them forward into the slough that lay before 
them was risky, and he turned back and endeavored by 
careful examination to find some safe passage across the 
barrier. Leaving his wagon, to ascertain, if possible, his 
bearings, he barely succeeded in finding his way back in 
the darkness. Again driving onward, the horses once 
more stopped. Giving up at length the hope of reaching 
home that night, he unharnessed the horses, tied them to 
the wagon, and spreading a buffalo skin on the ground, 
waited for the morning light. 

In the thick darkness of the spring and summer it is 
not pleasant to be lost all night; but amid the piercing 
wind and freezing cold of a winter night, to wander, as 
some have done, on the trackless prairie, is terrible. 

In the winter of 1838 or 1839, H. Ball was returning 
from Michigan City to Cedar Lake, the night-fall found 
him on the open area of Twenty Mile Prairie. The snow 
clouds obscured the sky, the wind blew, the horses missed 
the track, and he was lost. No houses were near. It 
was to him a night of suffering and danger. Two or 
three circumstances combined to save his life. A star 
shone out for a moment and kept him from taking a di- 
rection that led yet further away from human abodes. 
Finding it useless to continue wandering around on the 
bleak prairie, having with liim fortunately a bolt of sati- 



INCIDENTS AND ITEMS. 263 

net, and having a pair of large and powerful horses, one 
of which was remarkably sagacious, he wound the cloth 
around him and stood between the heads of the horses 
to seek some shelter from the wind and to share some 
warmth from their breath. To grow weary and seek rest, 
or to lie down in the sleigh there and become benumbed, 
was to perish. And so he remained between the heads 
of those noble horses amid the bitter cold, until a shrill 
sound, the distant crowing of a rooster before the morn- 
ing dawned, indicated the direction of a human dwel- 
ling. Proceeding toward that cheering sound he reached 
a house, and found shelter, and warmth, and rest. It 
was a night which he never forgot, the winter night spent 
on Twenty Mile Prairie. 

NATIVE WILD ANIMALS. 

Most of our wild animals have been incidentally named. 
Of the fur-bearing tribes there originally were musk-rats, 
mink, otter, and beaver. The latter disappeared before 
the white men came. Of other quadrupeds there were 
deer, and wolves, and wild-cats, fox squirrels, and rabbits. 
On one island in the marsh, black squirrels are found. 
Chipmunks, gophers, and ground squirrels abounded. 
There was found in Cedar Lake a pair of large horns, 
supposed to be elk, indicating that they were once in this 
region. 

The wolves were very abundant here, as were most of 
the other animals, when the settlers came. Two boys 
out from home one day saw as many as a dozen, and two 
followed them within half a mile of their home. On 
winter mornings the new fallen snow would be marked 
with a multitude of their tracks. Men would chase them 



264 LAKE COUNTY. 

sometimes with horses, and, among the grubs, the wolf 
has been known to look saucily up at the rider, as much 
as to say, "Catch me if you can." A physician, on his 
rides, has sometimes given them chase ; and even a 
well-mounted pioneer minister, on the way from one ap- 
pointment to another, has been tempted to follow the 
unscared wolf, and only missed capturing him by his 
wolfship at length taking refuge in a marsh where the 
swift horse could not follow. 

A few large gray wolves have occasionally visited our 
prairies, even as lately as this present year ; but they are 
not considered to be native. 

Of feathered animals, the grouse, or prairie chickens, 
were those that gave character to the prairies ; the water- 
fowls have been named in connection with Cedar Lake; 
the usual varieties of little birds were in the groves ; and 
the crow, the hawk, and the eagle, were native inhabi- 
tants. 

Of wild life, without ferocious animals, there was no 
lack. The waters swarmed with fish; and the groves^ 
and the prairies, and the marshes were alive with their 
appropriate inhabitants. The larger marshes, and even 
small ones, in the midst of the dryest prairie, contained 
some fish, and multitudes of small shell-bearing animals^ 
called snails or periwinkles. The prairie crawfish 
abounded. The rattlesnakes and other venomous and 
harmless serpents were on almost every rood of land ; 
and ox flies and horse flies seemed to drive the domestic 
cattle nearly to distraction. 

But these smaller animals, and the venomous serpents, 
and many of the other denizens of the region, have al- 



INCIDENTS AND ITEMS. 265 

ready disappeared ; and few comparatively remain amid 
our present civilization. It is ever so, that the children 
of nature retire before the cultivated races. A few more 
years and we may scarcely have anything that comes un- 
der the name of game. 



I close the items in this chapter with some specimens 
of our Fine Arts. From the amateur painters, musicians, 
and gardeners, nothing can be obtained capable of being 
set up in type ; but the amateur poets furnish me with 
some specimens of their art which I transfer to these 
pages. It is not to be expected that in a region where 
forty years ago the Indian hunters were sole occupants, 
and where the squatter and the settler have toiled early 
and late to secure the comforts of life, there should be — 
without any city growth — the wealth, or leisure, or talent 
even, to accomplish anything in this line which would 
attract the attention of a connoisseur. Nevertheless I 
place on these pages for preservation a few specimens 
from true children of Lake. 

"TO THE WHIP-POOR-WILL. 

" Strange bird of the evening, we love thy pure tone, 

That comes over valley and hill, 
When the wind from the southland utters its moan, 
And Winter's chill wings from the wild wood have flown ; 
Thy voice in the dark hours then, plaintive and lone, 

Sings ever its clear whip-pocr-will. 

" Shy bird, dost thou know how we list to thy note. 
When sounds of the day are all still ? 
The deep chords of feeling are touched when there floats 
On the still evening air from woodland remote, 



266 ],AKE COUNJV. 

Thy voice, sad and mournful, yet strong, that denotes 
Thy true faith, thou lone whip-poor-will. 

" But why dost thou sing, all through night's lonely hours ? 
Hast thou too, a mission to fill? 
Does earth's gloom, through sympathy, call forth thy powers. 
And when from otir hearts are gone sunshine and flowers, 
While night-dews are chill, and star-beams gem thy bowers, 
Canst cheer with thy shrill whip-poor-will? 

" Ah ! brave heart and true, that can hopefully beat, 

Though sorrows earth's chalice doth fill, 

And find 'mid the dark hours of life a retreat, 

And sing, " songs in the night," with deep joy replete, 

And with sunshine of soul the morning, can greet, 

Like the night-bird, the loved whip-poor-will. 

A. A. A." 



"THE SEASIDE RECLUSE. 

I Lines suggested by an Engraving in Mrs. 's drawing-room, and to her respect- 
fully dedicated.] 

BY J. H. B. 

" Lovely vision ! maidens fair ! 
Unbound tresses ! flowing hair ! 
By the rocks, and by the sea ; 
Emblems sweet of purity ! 
Painter's hands portray you well ! 
Is it here you ever dwell ? 
Or come you to hear the beat 
Of ocean throbbing 'neath your feet ? 

■' Mountain nymphs or water naiads, 
Tell me how long here you've staid. 
If indeed of human mould 
What sad sorrows all untold 
May have crossed your pathway bright ? 



INCIDENTS AND ITEMS. 267 

For if now I judge aright, 

Anxious cares once filled your breast, 

Though now so calm, serene, at rest. 

" Imagination tunes her ear ; 
I listen now and seem to hear. 
Voices blending, sad and sweet, 
As echoes in the woodlands meet, 
Plaintive, mournful, soft and low. 
Like purling streams that gently flow ; 
Noting words while still I may, 
Much like this they seem to say : 

" ' I have found your retreat, by the surf-beaten shore. 

Ah ! these cold granite stones look too sombre and grim. 
Here the sea breeze is damp, much too damp for you more, 

Hasten home with me then, ere is sung our night hymn. 
'Melia, gaze not so sad on the ocean's dark crest. 

There is much yet in life, although mixed with alloy. 
Then dismiss your dark thoughts, bid your moaning heart rest. 

There are pleasures still left, if yon would but enjoy.' 

" Oh ! Theresa, dear friend, I 'm resigned to my fate. 

All repinings long since, have departed my breast, 
Yet I love to sit here, by these gray rocks, and wait, 

While one faint ray of light lingers still in the west. 
Yes, 'tis here, while in listening to the waters' low moan. 

My brow fanned by the sea breeze that nightly sets in, 
That I care not for life, all I'd live for seems flown. 

All earth's joys set for me when I parted with him.' 

" ' Now I think of the Past, and my mem'ry goes back 

To the time when we wandered here, free from all care. 

Treading lightly our path, by yon rivulet's track. 
In the eventide cool, or by morn fresh and fair, 

All unconscious of sorrow, of sufTring, of pain, 

Fearing naught, dreading naught, knowing naught of life's ills. 



268 LAKE COUNTY. 

Fondly dreaming these pleasure would ever remain, 
Drank the full cup of bliss, and yet sighed for it still.' 

" ' Now the Present looks dark, very dark to my eyes, 

And each purpose in life seems vague, dim and uncertain, 
On the grandeur of ocean, on the blue-vaulted skies, 

I find solace in musing, while night spreads her curtain, 
I people the mists, with gentle forms, and sweet voices, 

Now the sad, and the gay, I commingle together, 
And oh ! with what a thrill my heart often rejoices, 

That there's one at my bidding, that comes to me ever.' 

*' ' Wrap this mantle around you and sit down awhile, 

For the dark clouds are breaking, the sunset is bright, 
And perchance from old sorrows my mind 'twill beguile, 

Should I tell you a vision I saw but last night. 
It was later than this, I had gazed long, so long, 

On the waters' weird face, after twilight's last ray, 
The darkness had deepened, and the night-breeze blew strong, 

And beneath moaned the surge, as it dashed its wild spray.' 

" ' A lone ship seemed to move, phantom-like on the wave, 

I could plainly distinguish the sails and the shrouds, 
As a transient light seemed the sea's surface to lave, 

Like the moon breaking forth out of dark-rifted clouds. 
A group on the deck were peering out on the gloom, 

With anxiety descrying the face of the land. 
Now awaiting in silence and with fear the sad doom. 

Should their vessel on some of these unknown rocks strand.' 

■*' ' At the helm there stood one with lips firmly compressed, 

Self-reliant and calmly he guided their way, 
And each movement he made close observed by the rest, 

As all waited his nod or command to obey. 
All so perfect, so real, it then to me seemed. 

The proud bearing, the mien, was Brusabo's alone, 
Could there be but truth in it, and though I have dreamed, 

Might I Ihink he still lived, that he yet would come home 



INCIDENTS AND ITEMS. 269 

" ' Six long years have now passed since that wild, gloomy day, 

Years of longing, and hoping, and watching, and prayer, 
When they called him a convict, and bore him away, 

And my heart seemed to sink in the wildest despair. 
One thought then sustained me, is upholding me still — 

When in agony's calmness he bade me farewell. 
' Oh ! believe me,' he said, ' and I trust that you will. 

All this dark tale is false that against me they tell." 

" ' Oh ! I knew 'twas so false to charge him with a crime. 

It was jealousy, malice ! 'twas envy or hate, 
He could do nothing wrong with a spirit so fine ! 

Ah ! they drove him to madness, then laughed at his fate ! 
His proud spirit soon sunk 'neath the blow and the chain, 

As in bondage awhile with the chained-gang he trod, 
Then he sickened and died, and was laid in the main. 

As the ship passed in sight of our own native sod.' 

" ' When I think what his hopes were, so glowing and bright. 

How his life's sun arose with no clouds in the sky. 
Then so sudden went down in such darkness of night, 

Murm'ring thoughts to subdue, it seems vain that I try ! 
He was all things to me, there's naught ever can fill. 

In my wounded and bruised heart, the aching void left, 
Oft I strive to forget, but I think of him still, 

And in anguish my heart moans, ' Bereft ! Oh ! bereft !' 

*' ' Oh ! Amelia, remember, though poignant the grief, 

This one thought, that our Father permitted the blow, 
Our repinings should still, to our hearts bring relief, 

For He deals but in wisdom to mortals below. 
Then dispel all this gloom, look on life's brighter side. 

Though the pathway seems dark, light is shining beyond, 
With each duty performed we no ills need betide, 

But sink sweetly to rest when declines the day's sun.' 

" ' I feel all that you say, to its truth I attest. 

And the strange cup I drink, I accept what is given, 
21 



270 LAKE COUNTY. 

Calmness now fills my breast, but not rest, no, not rest, 
I will find that alone when I find it in Heaven ! 

Yes, beyond the cold tide and the mists of life's ocean, 
Loved Brusabo awaits, standing on the dim shore. 

In the twilight oft, oft, he is seeming to motion 

For me there to join him where are sorrows no more.' " 



I place next, not as a model epithalamium, a little piece^ 
slightly revised, written and read at the marriage of Dr. 
Andrew S. Cutler and Miss Mary Jane Ball, December 
16, 1869. 

On a lovely prairie in the State of Ind. 
In a pleasant home well sheltered from the wind, 
Two little flowers appeared not many years ago. 
Growing in the sunshine and dreading not the snow. 

Like the lily opening, like the rose, they grew. 
Showing forth alike the sweet, the pure, the true ; 
Like twins indeed they seemed on one rich rose stalk set, 
Fed by the self-same showers, by the same dew-drops wet. 

Fast they grew and lovely thus growing side by side ; 
But lovely things and pleasant may not long abide ; 
The one was taken up within the gates of light. 
The other blooms in beauty here with us to-night. 

Said I two little flowers? Oh no, two gentle birds. 
Came to that prairie home, I change two little words ; 
One came in glowing autumn, mid October's sun ; 
The other in December, this the youngest one. 

I know not whence they came, but I am very sure 
They seemed to us like doves and like the robins pure. 
Were they birds of passage? or were they birds of song? 
One flew to Paradise ; may this one tarry long. 

Did I say flowers and birds ? They were my sisters dear. 
Who for some twenty years were seldom severed here ; 



INCIDENTS AND ITEMS, 271 

Alike they grew in knowledge and alike in love, 
Were they gentle visitants sent us from above ? 

They were the household pets, the youngest of our band ; 
(There are not " seven " to-night together here to stand ;) 
It has been said, the youngest never do grow old ; 
'Tis sure that loving natures never need grow cold. 

Joy for that flown and freed one. Perfect joy and love 
Are where we trust she dwells among the good above. 
And joy to this young bride, unmingled by earth's fear ; 
Though perfect joy and perfect bliss are not the dwellers here. 

Yet to sister Mary and brother Andrew joy ! 
May life for them be bright with little to annoy. 
No tears are shed to-night around our household tree ; 
For hope, and peace, and love, go with the truly free. 

The two sisters referred to above were Mary Jane and 
Henrietta Ball, both born at Cedar Lake, and in their 
childhood and youth almost inseperable companions in 
every occupation. The younger, Henrietta, consid- 
ered by all who knew her as being richly endowed in all 
the qualities and capabilities that gave promise of a noble 
womanhood, graduating at the Indianapolis Female In- 
stitute in 1861, died at Cedar Lake, January 27, 1863, 
being twenty-one years of age. 



"MYTH AND TRUTH; OR, PAST AND FUTURE GLORY. 

" I have read the ancient stories. 
Fables, legends, fiction, truth ; 
Read of many wondrous glories. 
Told of nations in their youth. 

" Read of Eastern pomp and splendor, 
Read of warriors true and bold : 



272 LAKE COUNTY. 

Of a noted witch of Endor, 
And a temple bright with gold. 

" Read of peace and read of slaughter, 

Written in the Book of books ; 

Moses found by Pharaoh's daughter, 

Strong in faith and fair in looks. 

" Of the Shepherd boy so fearless, 
Smiting with a sling and stone, 
'Mong the warrior poets peerless, 
King at length on Judah's throne. 

" Read of gifted prophets many, 

Those so grand, and true, and wise, 
Unexcelled on earth by any. 
Seeing distant glories rise. 

" Prophets, poets, seers and sages. 

Shepherds, soldiers, priests and kings 
Earth still holds these deathless pages, 
Earth still with their record rings. 

" I have read the myths and fables. 
That arose in ancient time, 
Like that tale of Augean stables. 
Fictions most of love and crime. 

" Persian, Hindoo, Scald or Norseman, 
All these have their legends old ; 
Romans tell of two twin horsemen, 
Pollux, Castor, swift and bold. 

" Romans tell of many a hero, 

Who has borne him well in fight ; 
Long before the bloody Nero, 
Rome had fabled gods of might. 

" Greek and Arab lack not fable,"' 
And they give us stories rare, 



INCIDENTS AND ITEMS. 273 

Arthur's Knights and his Round Table, 
Scarcely with them can compare. 

Myths and legends all might perish, 

They are powerless on the heart ; 
Sacred truth the world should cherish, 

Never with it can it part. 

" Still in future myths may linger, 
Will be read by students o'er, 
But there points an index finger, 
Ever to the sacred lore ; 

• Saying to earth's children ever. 
Listen to these words divine, 
Lay aside the prophets never, 
Future glories soon will shine. 

' Buried in the depths of ages. 

Lies the greatness myths declare ; 
Promised on the sacred pages, 
Future greatness looms forth fair. 

' Let earth's children read and ponder, 

Let them earnest workers be, 
For the day dawns, see it yonder ! 
Soon earth's millions will be free. 

Soon will come the Latter Glory ; 

Ours a glory yet to be. 
When each fabled mythic story 

Sinks beneath oblivion's sea, Y. N. L." 



I place last, among these selections, a little piece read 
at the marriage of Dr. H. H. Pratt and Miss Carrie R. 
Jarvis, May 15, 1872, and to them affectionately dedi- 
cated. 



274 LAKE COUNTY. 

A NEW PSALM OF LIFE. 

Our life is what we make it. 
Then if we could only know, 
How to take the ebb and flow 
Of the mighty currents round, 
Bearing swiftly, without sound, 
To the dark unfathomed deep, 
It might be grand and glorious. 
Death is not an endless sleep. 

Listen to the words, " What cheer ?" 
Cheer to thee amid the gloom ! 
Cheer to thee amid the strife ! 
Through the many struggles here, 
That may lead to endless life ! 
Through the dark, and through the bright, 
Those still steadfast to the right. 
Whisper to each other cheer. 

Ah ! 'tis not alone to breathe, 
Not to eat and drink alone, 
That make up life, something more — 
Things that live beyond time's shore. 
Life is more, yes, more than meat. 
More than raiment too, is life. 
Sit at the Great Teacher's feet. 
Learn the worth of toil and strife. 

Yes, life is what we make it ; 

Our life is as we take it, 

Marked with brightness, love and joy, 

Worthless with some base alloy. 

And alas ! how very mean. 

How sad, how vainly wasted, 

Its sweets almost untasted. 

Is the life of many a queen. 



INCIDENTS AND ITEMS. 275 

From the highest to the low, 
From the throne to peasant's cot, 
Few solve aright life's mystery. 
Few that share a blessed lot. 
For life is what we make it, 
And we do not make it bright ; 
Our life is as we take it, 
And we do not take it right. ' 

It may lead us up on high, 
Through the blue and lovely sky, 
To the gift of a white stone, 
To a super-human throne, 
To a new name written bright. 
And to mansions fair as light ; 
To the gates of endless day, 
Where no loved ones pass away. 



276 LAKE COUNTY. 



CHAPTER XI. 

SKETCHES OF EARLY SETTLERS. 

" MEN DIE BUT PRINCIPLES LIVE." 

" Better to weave in the web of life 

A bright and golden filling, 
And to do God's will with a ready heart, 

And hands that are swift and willing, 
Than to snap the minute, delicate threads 

Of our curious life asunder, 
And then blame heaven for the tangled ends, 

And sit, and grieve and wonder." 

Lord Bacon, it is said, assigns the highest meed of 
earthly fame to the founders of States, to those whom 
the Romans called conditores imperiortcm. The early set- 
tlers of the United States, especially those world-renowned 
men, the Pilgrim Fathers of New England, doubtless be- 
long to the class and merit the fame of " Founders of 
States" or conditores imperiorum; but those who first pen- 
etrated the Western wilds, like Daniel Boone, when Ken- 
tucky was the "dark and bloody ground," pioneer men 
in their home-spun, and with their rifles, certainly deserve 
some of the credit and honor belonging to builders and 
founders. And our own early settlers, who first woke the 
echoes of civilization in Northwestern Indiana, who en- 
dured hardships, and privations, and exposures, to estab- 



SKETCHES OF EARLY SETTLERS. 277 

lish a county and found a small republic, although not 
exposed to the Indian tomahawk, are nevertheless justly 
entitled to some meed of fame as men who truly belonged 
to the class of builders. Lake county was a wild when 
they entered it, beautiful and fertile, it is true, like pri- 
meval nature, but inhabited by wild animals innumerable 
and the lingering Pottawatomies. 

Taking possession, for the generations of the future, of 
five hundred square miles of surface, they at once began 
to build for the benefit of posterity. Law and order, 
and material comforts ; and social, and intellectual, and 
religious institutions, rapidly grew up under their fos- 
tering care. Few of them now remain among us, and no 
full sketches can here be given even of those most dis- 
tinguished in our earliest annals. For a notice of some, 
however, I possess more ample material than I do con- 
cerning others ; and in the brief sketches that follow I 
hope to do none injustice. 

SOLON ROBINSON. 

The readers of these chapters have already become 
somewhat familiar with the name written above. Al- 
though not quite the first settler, yet of right, the first 
sketch should be of him whose name is so fully inter- 
woven with our early records. From 1834 to 1851, Solon 
Robinson was intimately identified with the interests of 
Lake. A native of Connecticut, he spent some years in 
the southern part of Indiana. Removing with a young 
family into this beautiful wild, away from civilized man, 
he was active in forrning the Squatters' Union ; was the 
first recorder of claims ; after the organization of the 
county was elected clerk ; was clerk and general manager 



278 LAKE COUNTY. 

of the board of commissioners ; at his house the first 
courts were held ; and by means of his situation, his op- 
portunities, his intelligence, his capabilities, and his tal- 
ent, he to so great an extent controlled the affairs of the 
settlers that he gained the title of " Squatter King of 
Lake." I am not aware that he was disposed to be arbi- 
trary, or despotic, or overbearing ; — he was himself, then, 
but a squatter among squatters, and although soon by 
means of his pen he began to shape for himself a new 
line of life ; he was affable, familiar, plain, hospitable, 
kind and accommodating ; — but he doubtless liked to 
wield influence, and was then entering upon a career 
that gained for him no little celebrity. Practically, he 
was not much of a farmer. His garden spot, where the 
Indians had raised maize, formed the common garden of 
the summer of 1835 of the four families of the settle- 
ment; and although he in common with them "broke up" 
the prairie sod and commenced making farms, his official 
duties and merchandising soon engrossed his time, and 
that Indian garden spot became his principal sphere of 
actual farming operations. Yet he took an interest in 
agriculture and commenced writing for the Cultivator. 
The first article which I find, on a somewhat careful ex- 
amination of some bound volumes, is dated Lake C. H., 
July 12, 1837. It is headed, " Nutmeg Potatoes — Lake 
Superior Corn." It speaks of sending "prairie flower 
seeds," is short, and reads like the communication of a 
new correspondent. A longer communication is in a 
succeeding number, dated August 29, which contains a 
proposition to increase the circulation of the Cultivator, 
and the proposition is accompanied with a five dollar 



SKETCHES OF EARLY SETTLERS. 279 

subscription for gratuitous distribution. In 1838 and 
1839 other communications followed. In 1840, I find 
twelve; in 1841, fifteen; in 1842, seven; in 1843, five; 
Cultivator communications. 

In 1843 Solon Robinson was removed from the office 
of postmaster, which he had for so long a time held. As 
he expressed it, see Cultivator ^ " in the operations of Ty- 
lerism I have lately lost the franking privilege"; and he 
assigns this as a reason for not writing so many letters as 
formerly. He feared his friends would not consider them 
worth the postage. Letters cost in those days, and were 
not generally prepaid. He says : " For the same reason 
my communications to the numerous agricultural papers 
will be less frequent than formerly." For what other 
papers he wrote I am not informed. These contributions 
to the Cultivator are on a variety of topics of interest to 
farmers, and some of them are sketches of life in the 
West at that early period ; and some of them are addressed 
to "Western Emigrants." In one of these he says well, 
"An able general selects a small portion of a large army 
for pioneers because of the peculiar fitness of that small 
part for that arduous and important service. It is my 
opinion that a much smaller portion of the community 
are fit for pioneers in settling a new country." He there- 
fore does not advise everybody to come West. 

These various articles, by their style and from their 
locality, secured many readers, gained for their author 
much celebrity, and made his name familiar in very many 
farmer homes. They secured for him also many corres- 
pondents. 

As early as March, 1838, he made the proposal to form 



28o LAKE COUNTY. 

an "American Society of Agriculture." This subject he 
agitated considerably, and in April, 1841, he wrote " an 
address to the farmers of the United States," which went 
out through the columns of the Cultivator. In April, of 
the same year, he wrote to the editors of the Cultivator 
the following : 

"I now have in contemplation to make an extensive 
agricultural tour during the coming summer, and it would 
be a great pleasure to me, and I have reason to believe it 
would be equally so to some of your readers, to form a 
personal acquaintance with them as far as practicable ; 
and as I shall ' take notes,' and you will ' print them,' it 
may also conduce to our mutual improvement. I have, 
therefore, thought proper to make this public announce- 
ment of my intentions and route." 

He then names the places through which he will pass, 
and individuals upon whom he expects to call, along 
quite a route of travel. That trip he took. The Octo- 
ber Cultivator contains the following editorial : 

" It gives us great pleasure to state that our friend 
Solon Robinson, Esq., the zealous and able promoter of 
industry, and the original projector of a National Agri- 
cultural Society, has safely arrived at Washington, and 
that on the fourth of September a meeting was held in 
the Hall of the Patent Office, at which the incipient steps 
for the formation of such a society were taken." After 
giving proceedings they add : " We here gladly insert the 
remarks of Mr. Robinson, accompanying and explaining 
the report of the proceedings, in preference to anything 
we could add ourselves in enforcing the propriety and 
necessity of such an organization. It is indeed proba- 



SKETCHES OF EARLY SETTLERS. 251 

ble that before this sheet goes to the press, Mr. Robinson 
will have been among us ; and we cannot doubt his re- 
ception among his agricultural friends in the east and 
north, will be such as to convince him that they will not 
be behind those of any portion of the Union, in a cor- 
dial support to his great undertaking." 

It thus appears that the credit of forming a National 
Agricultural Society belongs to the County of Lake. 
Those " remarks " that followed are too lengthy to be 
here given. 

To his neighbors and acquaintances, here, it was quite 
entertaining to see how distinguished and popular their 
fellow citizen had become abroad, and especially when 
they looked upon his little farm in the garden and knew 
that practically he was not a farmer at all. They had 
not fully learned that the pen was " mightier than the 
sword," or even then the heavy plows which they 
followed, and the scythes and the cradles which they 
swung. 

Solon Robinson returned home to Crown Point ; staid 
a little longer among us; represented our State in a large 
convention at Chicago among such men as Tom Corwin, 
Horace Greeley, and other notables of the land, in about 
1845; made a tour, as a Western agricultural writer, 
through the Southern States; and made a visit to New 
York. He found a position that seemed to suit him bet- 
ter than holding office in Lake County. He left his 
family here, a wife, two sons, and two daughters ; made 
to Judge Turner, of Crown Point, a deed of his real 
estate in Lake and La Porte Counties for the benefit of 
his wife ; and they separated by mutual agreement. 



282 LAKE COUNTY. 

He took a position in connection with the New York 
Tribune. 

His life in New York it is not a part of my present task 
to give. It is sufficient on this to say that his moral prin- 
ciples were not of the Puritanical school, and that the 
man who would abandon such a woman as was Mrs. Ma- 
ria Robinson could not be expected afterwards to lead a 
very exemplary life. 

HIS LITERARY PRODUCTIONS. 

The first of these, so far as here known, was a story of 
Indian and border life, called "The Will." The scene 
was laid, on the Indian side, at Cedar Lake, other inci- 
dents transpired in the bounds of the county. It is 
quite an interesting story. The next was called, " The 
Last of the Buffaloes." This I have not read. These 
two were written and published while he was residing at 
Crown Point. After he became established at New York 
he published, in book form, " Hot Corn," " Green Moun- 
tain Girls," and "A Dime a Day, or Economy of Living 
Well ; " also a story in the Weekly T^-ibune called, " Me- 
won-i-toc," the scene of which was laid in Lake County. 
He also edited a large work of some four or five hun- 
dred pages, called "Farmers' Encyclopaedia." 

In or about 1868 he left the Tribune office and made 
his home at Jacksonville, Florida. He is understood to 
be in easy circumstances, even what here we would call 
wealthy, having an income of some four or five thousand 
dollars a year. 

In person he is rather tall, spare, dignified ; accustomed 
to the ways of society. His hair was white thirty-five 
years ago, and it has not grown dark since. His age is 



SKETCHES OF EARLY SETTLERS. 283 

sixty-eight. Although the/^;? has been his special instru- 
ment, and that to which in a great degree he owes his 
celebrity and position and wealth ; yet he can speak 
easily and readily ; and has evidently possessed a shrewd 
and cultivated intellect ; cultivated not by the learning 
and drill of the schools, but by thought and effort in 
actual life. 

In one article to Western Emigrants he says : " Hap- 
piness and not wealth should be the aim of all, though 
no man should allow himself to be happy without he is 
doing some good in the world — promoting the happiness 
of his fellow creatures as well as himself." 

In closing up his last address to the Lake County Tem- 
perance Society, in the year 1847, Solon Robinson gave 
utterance to the following words : 

"And as for myself I will ask no prouder monument to 
my fame than to be assured that the members of this 
society will stand as mourners around my grave, and, 
pointing to the lifeless form beneath the falling sods, 
shall truly say, ' There lies a brother who in this life had 
an ardent desire to promote the happiness of his fellow 
creatures. May his historian be able to record that in 
the latter years of his life he was eminently successful in 
this.'" 

Scattered and dead as most of the members of that 
society now are, and far away from this region as he who 
uttered these words now resides, himself an aged man, 
it is not probable any of these associates will aid in lay- 
ing his lifeless form away to rest. And I fear, if rumor 
be true, that in these " latter years," he, like too many 
of us, has forgotten sometimes the happiness of his fel- 



284 LAKE COUNTY. 

low creatures in the pursuit and enjoyment of merely 
selfish gratifications. But well, evidently, has Solon Rob- 
inson known how^ ax\^for what, men ought to live. The 
Perfect Records will show at the last whether he has 
achieved an eminent success. 

GEORGE EARLE. 

The town of Liverpool, so noted in our early history, 
was on an Indian reservation, or on land selected under 
an Indian float. In the Recorder's Office is a copy of 
the patent, signed by Andrew Jackson, President of the 
United States, June 16, 1836, conveying to John B. Chap- 
man Section 24, Township 36, Range 8, being 603.60 acres, 
in accordance with the third article of the treaty made 
on the Tippecanoe River with the chiefs and warriors of 
the Pottawatomies in 1832. The town plat as recorded 
bears the date January 30, 1836. In this town George 
Earle, from the City of Philadelphia, a native of Fal- 
mouth, England, became a resident in the year 1836. 
Prominent as he soon became among the settlers, he was 
not himself a squatter. He was at first agent for the 
proprietors of the town, he was afterwards County Agent, 
and purchasing one interest after another, he became 
owner of a large tract of land. Section 18, T. 36, R. 7, 
was bought by John B. Chapman, one of the original 
proprietors of Liverpool, for $800, of Re-re-mo-sau, or 
Parish, also written Parrish, as the deed says, " once a 
chief but now an Indian of the Pottawatomies." So 
near as I have ascertained some ten or twelve sections of 
land came at length into the hands of the County Agent. 
Across this land railroads were at length built. The 



SKETCHES OF EARLY SETTLERS. 285 

towns of Lake and Hobart were laid out and grew up 
upon it, and the owner became wealthy. 

A personal friend, yet at the same time a rival of Solon 
Robinson for the location of the county seat, gaining it 
at first and losing the location afterward, his agency in 
the naming of the permanent county seat and sale of the 
lots has been already mentioned. After the question of 
location was finally settled the proprietor of Liverpool 
continued to improve that place. It was claimed to be 
the head of navigation on the river, and a large boat was 
built in i84o-'4i to carry produce to Chicago and to 
open inland commerce. The navigation proved diffi- 
cult. The boat was taken in 1841 by horse-power to 
Chicago, was remodeled into a schooner, and, while 
making a voyage, was wrecked near Michigan City. The 
time had not then come for the boat navigation of our 
marshy rivers. Finding that Liverpool was not likely to 
become a city, its proprietor in the spring of 1845 com- 
menced building mills at Hobart, distant some three 
miles. The dam and saw mill were completed in 1846, a 
grist mill was soon in operation, and the family removed 
to that place in 1847. The town was laid out in 1848. 

In 1854 the proprietor of Liverpool, and Lake, and Ho- 
bart, returned to Philadelphia, leaving his son, John 
Earle, to manage the property interests in the county. 

The resemblances and the contrasts between Solon 
Robinson and George Earle are somewhat singular and 
marked. Both remained some sixteen or seventeen years 
in this county. One founded a town and secured the 
county seat; the other obtained the county seat but lost 
it, and laid out and established other towns. The one 



286 LAKE COUNTY. 

retired to New York ; the other to Philadelphia. The 
one, well as he knew the lands of the county, invested 
but little in land, and left here the owner of none, de- 
pending for his future fortune upon his talent and his 
pen ; the other made selections of land that proved, 
profitable investments, and retired to use the pencil and 
the brush, to draw architect's plans and place forms of 
beauty on canvas. The one seems carefully to avoid re- 
visiting the scenes of his settler days ; the other frequently 
returns to his former home in his railroad town. Both 
had talent and intelligence, both have now the reputation 
of possessing ample means ; but their early training, na- 
tive tastes, and circumstances in life, hav3 led to differ- 
ent results. In 1855 George Earle revisited his native 
place in England. He made a second visit in 1865, and 
a third in 1868. While there he caused to be erected 
a home for the poor and aged of the town of Falmouth, 
at a cost of ^30,000, and made a donation of it to the 
town. Fond of architecture and painting, he in his 
home at Philadelphia, sometimes made architectural de- 
signs, combining profit with pleasure ; and in leisure 
hours painted a number of pictures which have been 
placed upon the walls of the art-gallery which he erected 
at Hobart in 1858. He made a visit of several weeks 
during this summer, at the residence of his son, and will 
probably soon revisit the shores of England. He is tall 
in person, dignified and courteous in manners, manifest- 
ing the bearing of an American and English gentleman. 

HON. LEWIS WARRINER. 

Lewis Warriner was born in West Springfield, Massa- 
chuetts, in June, 1792. He settled on the east side of 



SKETCHES OF EARLY SETTLERS. 287 

Cedar Lake, November 9, 1837, having lived until that 
year in his native town, near the west bank of the Con- 
necticut. 

His wife, an estimable woman, Mrs. Sabra Warriner, 
two sons and two daughters, composed the family. En- 
tering actively upon the occupations of a new country 
life, a pleasant and happy home seemed secure for this 
New England family; but the "sickly season " of 1838 
came upon them, sickness entered their home, death dark- 
ened their door, and the loved forms of the mother and 
youngest daughter were soon laid away to rest in that 
now neglected mound on the bank of the lake. The 
others rose up from sickness, and with strong hearts en- 
tered anew upon the work of providing comforts for a 
home out of which so much light and joy had departed. 

A mail route was opened this same year from Crown 
Point to West Creek, twelve miles, and Lewis Warriner 
was appointed post master, being the second or third one 
in the county. This office he held until 1849 when, in 
Gen. Taylor's administration, he was removed. When 
the administration changed, in 1852, he was again ap- 
pointed, and held the office until he left the county in 
1856. 

In the State of Massachusetts he had been sent four 
times as representative to Boston, and filled other posi- 
tions of honor and trust in his native State. In 1839 ^^ 
was elected a member of the Indiana Legislature to rep- 
resent Lake and Porter Counties, his competitors being, 
it is believed, L. Bradley, of City West, and B. McCarty, 
of Valparaiso. 

So far as I can ascertain, he was the first citizen of 



288 LAKE COUNTY. 

Lake County sent to the Legislature. In 1840 he took 
the first United States census in our bounds. He was 
again elected a member of the Legislature in 1848. 

He was one of the constituent members of the Cedar 
Lake Baptist Church, organized in June, 1838, having 
been, with his wife, a member of the Agawam Baptist 
Church, in West Springfield, and remained true to his 
Christian profession until his death. He was an excel- 
lent neighbor, an exemplary church member, a useful, 
active citizen, and in public life, both in Massachusetts 
and in Indiana, discharged his official duties faithfully 
and to the satisfaction of his constituents. 

His surviving children both having married and left 
the county, he, in 1856, went to reside with his son, Ed- 
win B. Warriner, at Kankakee, Illinois, and afterwards 
with his daughter, Mrs. James A. Hunt. He died at his 
son-in-law's residence at Prairie Grove, Fayette County, 
Arkansas, May 14, 1869, being almost 77 years of age. 

I quote the following: "As a man he always com- 
manded the highest respect and confidence of his neigh- 
bors and acquaintances in all the walks of life, both 
public and private, and was always ready to give his in- 
fluence and support for every object tending to benefit 
or improve his fellow man. 

"As a Christian he was active and sincere, both in his 
church duties and in his every day life and examples, the 
influences of which were felt and acknowledged by his 
neighbors and associates as being consistent and earnest 
and of a character that quietly leads into the ways of 
truth and life." 

Of his five children, one only is now living, Edwin B 
Warriner, of Kankakee. 



SKETCHES OF EARLY SETTLERS. 289 

JUDGE HERVEY BALL, A.M. 

Hervey Ball was born in West Springfield, Massachu- 
setts, October i6, 1794. His ancestors had lived in that 
region since 1640. He was educated for the bar, gradu- 
ated at Middlebury College, Vermont, in 1818, and stud- 
ied law for two years in that State. In 1820 he settled 
in Columbia County, Georgia, and was a member of the 
Augusta bar until 1834. Spending then a few years in 
New England, in 1837 he settled at Cedar Lake, being 
then forty-three years of age. He had been successful 
as a lawyer, was thoroughly educated and well read ; he 
brought with him to Cedar Lake quite a large law and 
general library ; but instead of devoting himself anew to 
his profession and becoming, as he easily might have be- 
come, a Circuit Judge, being then scarcely in the prime 
of life, he devoted himself to farming pursuits, except 
holding, for some years, the office of County Surveyor, 
and afterwards, for several years, that of Probate Judge, 
and in his later years administering justice among his 
neighbors as Justice of the Peace; giving his special 
attention to the training of his seven children and to 
general interests for the good of community. He was thor- 
oughly identified for thirty years with the religious inter- 
ests of the county, especially in forming and sustaining 
Sabbath Schools, and in originating and sustaining Bap- 
tist Churches. His interest extended outside of the 
county through the Northern Indiana Association, the 
meetings of which he usually attended, of which body 
he was sometimes Moderator; and he was also for a 
time Trustee of Franklin College. Ministers of any 
denomination were always hospitably welcomed and er,- 



290 LAKE COUNTY. 

tertained at his house ; and there both the Baptist and 
Presbyterian pioneers preached their first sermons. The 
Cedar Lake School House, on his place, has been already 
mentioned in this volume, and the literary, intellectual, 
and religious influences referred to of which it was the 
home. (See the article on Schools in Chapter X). 

During his professional life, and even in college life, 
he had mingled much in the gay, the busy, and the polite 
world, and was familiar with the leading men of his State 
in political and religious life. Among his fellow students 
in college were Stephen Olin, and Rev. Mr. Bingham, an 
early missionary to the Sandwich Islands; he was famil- 
iar with Seymour and Governor Slade, of Vermont ; his 
partner in the law was a member of Congress; his ac- 
quaintances and associates were the wealthy and the 
cultivated. He had traveled considerably and thus 
gained a large experience. The benefit of these asso- 
ciations and this experience were of great advantage to 
his children and the youth connected wdth them in their 
secluded home. 

During his retired farmer life his associations were in 
part continued with the political and religious world, as 
he took a number of periodicals, agricultural, literary, 
political, and religious, and read extensively until the last 
year of his life. He wrote considerably for some agri- 
cultural papers, especially on the subject of bees. In 
keeping these he was for several years very successful. 
He was identified with the temperance, social, and agri- 
cultural interests of the county. The various positions 
in these which he filled have been elsewhere mentioned. 
He died at Cedar Lake, October, 13, 1868, wanting only 
three days of having reached the age of 74 years. 



SKETCHES OF EARLY SETTLERS. 29I 

Thirty years of life thus spent, when a region is new, 
by one so active, so social, so thoroughly educated, fur- 
nished with so good a library, so solicitous for the moral 
and religious welfare of others, although producing no 
brilliant results in the great world, cannot have been 
spent in vain ; but will leave their impress on society to 
future generations, and will show results more precious 
than fame or wealth in the great hereafter. He who 
writes on mind writes on that which will not die. 

The four who have thus far been noticed in this Chap- 
ter were more or less intimate with each other and were 
all on very friendly and sociable terms. Religiously they 
were different. The former two have lived, it may be, 
more for this world. They have gained more or less of 
wealth, and are still living to enjoy it. The latter two, 
both active and prominent members of the Cedar Lake 
Church, very sociable and pleasant in the common walks 
of life, not shunning public or official duties, and dis- 
charging these faithfully, lived more, it may be, for the 
Great Future. They amassed not much of what the 
world calls wealth. They enjoyed a competency. And 
they have both gone where they know the realities of the 
unseen. 

I have placed these four first as being, perhaps, repre- 
sentative men. 

JUDGE SAMUEL TURNER. 

In the spring of 1838 Samuel Turner and family, hav- 
ing removed from Pennsylvania to La Porte County, 
settled in Eagle Creek Township near the bank of 
Eagle Creek. Other, of the early settlers there, were D. 
Sargent, John Moore, A. D. McCord, and Mrs. Mary 



292 LAKE COUNTY. 

Dilley, all of whom are now dead. Samuel Turner was 
one of the leading citizens of that part of the county, 
was soon elected Justice of the Peace, and about 1842 
was elected Associate Judge, which office he held until 
his death. 

For several years there was no cabinet shop nearer 
than Valparaiso, and, having learned to use carpenter 
tools, S. Turner was called on to make all the coffins 
used in the neighborhood, frequently taking lumber from 
the chamber floor of his cabin for that purpose, and 
always without any charge. Thus kind and obliging, 
respected and honored in the county, he died in 1847. 
His wife died in July, 187 1, being 87 years of age ; and 
the aged mother and grandmother, who lived with her 
daughter, Mrs. Dilley, died about January, 1855, having 
attained the age of 97 years. 

One son, Samuel Turner, Jr., marrying a daughter of 
W. G. McGlashon, of Crown Point, died of a lingering 
disease in 1864; and another son, James B. Turner, Esq., 
of Crown Point, died August 14, 1866. One daughter. 
Miss S. P. Turner, still lives at Eagle Creek. One son, 
T. J. Turner, has been a prominent politician and lawyer, 
since leaving this county, in Freeport, Illinois, and now 
in the City of Chicago. The third of the survivors of 
this family is Judge Turner, of Crown Point. 

JUDGE DAVID TURNER. 

David Turner came into Eagle Creek Township in his 
youth, as a member of his father's family. His school- 
boy days were spent in Pennsylvania. He entered while 
quite young into civil-official, and soon into political life, 
being elected Justice of the Peace in Eagle Creek when 



SKETCHES OF EARLY SETTLERS. 293 

his father became Associate Judge, and in 1849 he was 
elected Probate Judge. This office he held until it was 
abolished in 1851. In 1854 he was elected as represen- 
tative in the State Legislature, and in 1858 he was elected 
State Senator. 

In 1862 he was appointed by President Lincoln United 
States Assessor, which office he still holds. In Novem- 
ber, 1866, he was removed from office by President John- 
son, but the Senate failing to confirm Johnson's appointee, 
in March, 1867, he was reinstated. Having had some 
experience in regard to financial difficulties, he is now 
acquiring affluence in the sunshine of popular favor and 
earthly prosperity. 

A large and estimable family are gathered around him, 
and at his hospitable home the most distinguished visit- 
ors at Crown Point find a courteous welcome. He is 
an exemplary member of the United Presbyterian Church, 
a man of firm principle and undoubted piety. Such 
men in public life are ever blessings to community. 

JUDGE H. D. PALMER, M. D. 

Dr. Palmer, a graduate of Physicians' and Surgeons' 
College, at Fairfield, Herkimer County, State of New 
York, in 1834, entered Lake in the winter of 1836. He 
settled about two miles west of Centreville and com- 
menced practice. He has continued in practice, also 
carrying on a farm, ever since. His rides extend from 
Dyer to Hobart and Lake. Had the most practice be- 
tween 1850 and i860. He built in 1841 the first frame 
house in that part of the county. He was elected Asso- 
ciate Judge to fill the vacancy occasioned by the removal 
of Judge AVm. B. Crooks, in 1838 ; having taken his seat 
in January of that year as County Commissioner. 



294 LAKE COUNTY. 

This ofifice of Associate Judge, he held with Judge 
Clark, and afterward with Judge S. Turner, for about 
thirteen years. Twice during that time he held court in 
the absence of the presiding judge. He has lately 
erected quite a fine residence, and is enjoying the com- 
forts of a pleasant home. 

J. W. DINWIDDIE. 

The son of an early settler who made a claim near the 
edge of the county, J. W. Dinwiddie was a young man 
when our early settlements were made. He was born 
October i, 1813. The family records date back for sev- 
eral generations. As early as 1835 or 1836, J. W. Din- 
widdie was with his father and sister at Indian Town. 
He commenced farming. Found it unprofitable. He 
sold his farm and went to Illinois to work upon the canal. 
August 19, 1844, he was married, and returned to Lake 
County and bought in the fall of that year two hundred 
acres of land. He lived on it till July, 1845, and then 
resumed work on the canal. He again returned to this 
county in 1847 and went into business at Crown Point. 
In 1852 he returned to his farm, bought more land, and 
commenced farming operations on an extensive scale. 
He built, while Township Trustee, the school houses at 
Plum Grove, Eagle Creek, and on the prairie, then prob- 
ably the three best in the county. He was County Com- 
missioner; was recognized as one of the most energetic, 
and prudent, and thorough business men and farmers in 
the county, an excellent manager, firm in principle and 
successful in carrying out his plans ; and was rapidly ad- 
vancing in the accumulation of property, when sickness 
came unexpectedly upon him, and then death. He died 



SKETCHES OF EARLY SETTLERS. 295 

April 12, 1861, being 47 years of age. His death was 
deeply felt in the community. His wife, Mrs. M. J. Din- 
widdie, a woman of rare executive ability, took the 
management of the large estate, which now contains 
about 3,500 acres of land,^the five children were then 
young — and she has succeeded admirably in her man- 
agement. She has also carried on for some years a 
Sabbath School, is active in every good enterprise, and 
has exemplified how fully a true woman having wealth, 
position, intelligence, piety, and talent, can carry on 
business, do good, and be at the same time unobtrusive, 
retiring, refined, and womanly. Her children, three of 
them now grown up, have nobly aided her in her plans 
and efforts. In 1870 a new family residence was erected 
at a cost of some $2,500. 

Among all the squatters of the years before the land 
sale, no one succeeded in securing such a choice selec- 
tion of land, or of leaving for his family an estate so 
valuable as did the young sojourner at Indian Town, 
John W. Dinwiddie. 

He has left three sons among us to bear his name, share 
the results of his efforts, and imitate his virtues. 

DAVID BRYANT 

Came to Pleasant Grove in 1835. His wife died in 
March, 1836, and was buried on Morgan Prairie, where 
also Agnew, who perished with cold, had been buried, 
no ground having then been set apart in that portion of 
the county for the repose of the dead. He married 
again December 2, 1837. This was the first marriage 
ceremony, so far as records show, in this county. The 
license was obtained in Valparaiso. The day was exces- 
sively cold. 



296 LAKE COUNTY. 

In the spring of 1838 he went to Bureau County, Illi- 
nois, and spent some years. He then went to Missouri 
and staid a few years. He returned to Illinois. Went 
back to Ohio and staid five years; and in 1853 returned 
to this county. He settled at the " Fisher place." In 
1854 he brought in one thousand and sixty-three sheep. 
He went again to Illinois, and again returned here. Has 
since visited back and forth. He now resides at Eagle 
Creek with his son-in-law, Wm. Fisher. He is well-off; 
a very sociable, friendly man, of religious principle ; a 
church member; and is now 75 years of age. He is 
growing feeble, but retains the use of his mental faculties. 

SIMEON BRYANT 

Staid about a year in Pleasant Grove, then went to Indian 
Town. There he has ever since resided. The Indians 
had corn fields on his claim, or rather, he laid his claim 
on their fields. He however allowed them to plant corn 
on the land after he had fenced it. This gratified them. 
It had displeased them to have him settle on their fields, 
but he was so fearless, and kind, and obliging, that he 
gained their good will. (See Chapter III). He is^now 
well advanced in life and quite feeble. 

SAMUEL D. BRYANT 

Settled first on what is now the Jones' place. He made 
his claim in the spring of 1835. He afterwards went to 
Ohio, from which State the Bryant families had emi- 
grated, and spent a few years. He returned here and 
bought where he now resides, south of South East Grove,, 
in 1854. He is now 82 years of age, and worked this 
summer binding oats in the harvest field. 



SKETCHES OF EARLY SETTLERS. 297 

There are several descendants of these Bryant fami- 
lies in Lake and Porter Counties, and in the West. They 
are enterprising, intelligent, and prosperous. 

M. PEARCE 

Made a claim in about 1838. He married in 1840 Miss 
Margaret Dinwiddie. In 1841 they commenced house- 
keeping in a double log-cabin. The present family 
mansion was erected in 1853. The chief attention of the 
owner was given to farming. He held in his township 
the offices of Justice of the Peace and School Trustee. 
He died April 4, 1861, of typhoid pneumonia. J. W. 
Dinwiddie staid with him and took constant care for a 
week, and went home and was taken sick with the same 
disease and died. Thus these two active men, in the 
prime of life, were taken from one neighborhood, when 
our country was plunging into the fearful scenes of the 
civil war. No two men have been missed more from any 
of our neighborhoods than were these. 

M. Pearce also left three sons. The oldest, John 
Pearce, is now engaged in quite extensive farming ope- 
rations, and is one of the very promising and enterprising 
young farmers of the county. In September, 1867, he 
married Miss Lizzie V. Foster, of Crown Point. 

The other sons are yet young. 

HON. B. WOODS. 

May 25, 1836, Bartlett Woods left London, England. 
He landed at New York and came to Michigan City in 
August. In March, 1837, he made a claim in Lake 
County, on which he commenced improvements in the 
spring of 1838. He married a daughter of Samuel Sig- 
ler, also an early settler. With the exception of two 



298 LAKE COUNTY. 

years spent in Chicago, he has been a continuous resi- 
dent on his farm. He holds for it, as a claim, one of the 
very few claim-entry certificates now to be found. For 
a number of years, being intelligent, talented, and a 
ready speaker, he has been a prominent man in the com- 
munity. He held for two terms the office of County 
Commissioner. He was our representative at Indianapo- 
lis in the State Legislature in i86r and again in 1865. 

For the last three years he has been President of the 
Agricultural Society. 

DR. J. A. WOOD 

Has been already noticed as one of the earliest physi- 
cians practicing in this region. He went on horseback, 
according to the early custom when roads were scarcely 
known. He had a fine looking Indian or French pony, 
a thick set, heavy maned, sagacious, hardy animal, one to 
delight the eye of a boy ; quite different in appearance 
from either of the two noted Indian ponies at Cedar 
Lake, 

In one of his rides from Porter into Lake he was called 
into the vicinity of the Cady marsh. It lay in his route. 
The distance round was considerable. He was told 
white man had never crossed it. He thought if Indian 
could cross it on a pony he could. He ventured and 
succeeded ; but he bore away some of the black mud of 
the morass. It was a dangerous ride. His was a nice 
pony for chasing wolves. 

For several years he resided on the east side of Cedar 
Lake, and his house was one of the places for holding 
religious meetings. 

He was appointed with J. V. Johns, Amsi L. Ball, and 



SKETCHES OF EARLY SETTLERS. 299 

John Sykes, a committee to report on Michigan Central 
Road, when at its opening a free ride was given to our 
citizens from Lake to Michigan City. 

Having been familiar with the diseases of this region 
for more tlmn thirty years, he has an experience of much 
benefit in his present practice. 

CHARLES HAYWARD 

Settled, in 1837, a little east of the place where now 
stands the Stone Church. Another Hayward family also 
settled near, both from England ; and other English fami- 
lies, Jonas Rhodes, the brothers Bartlett and Charles 
Woods, the Muzzall families, and perhaps others from 
that same European island, settled in that part of the 
county. Prosperous representatives of these families are 
now living in the county. 

Quite a number of English families have at different 
times made this region their adopted home. 

H, YOUNG 

Settled on the Miller place at Deep River, succeeding A. 
Hopkins, who had bought Miller's store. Of Miller 
himself little seems to be now known. I am told that 
his wife was part Indian, that he had sold property at 
Michigan City for $80,000 in gold and silver, and that 
he started his store and mill probably in 1836. His mill 
sawed one-half of a log. At his store much whisky, as 
well as other articles, is said to have been sold. H. 
Young sold the mill irons to Dunstan, opened himself a 
gun shop, and kept the place several years. The road to 
Hobart now crosses by the site of this old mill and early 
store and shop, and here in the spring-time, in high 
water, the river appears like a Southern stream that has 



300 LAKE COUNTY. 

overflowed the timbered "bottoms." Families are living 
near, but none are now living upon this spot, and one 
might fancy that it had always been a wild. 

SAMUEL SIGLER 

Made a claim near Turkey Creek. His log cabin is still 
standing on the first sand hill north of the Sykes place. 
His date of settlement is 1837. He had four sons and 
three daughters. One of the daughters married Hon. B. 
Woods, another married Joseph Mundell, and the third 

one, — not third as to age — married Walton, on 

Twenty Mile Prairie. Of the sons, Samuel is a merchant 
at Wheeler, Eli and Daniel are merchants at Hebron, 
and Wm. Sigler is a merchant at Lowell. The father, 
Samuel Sigler, died a few years ago at Hebron. The 
sons have been for several years prominent business men. 
Some of the grand-children are now in manhood and 
womanhood, and are scattered abroad and entering for 
themselves into active life. 

A. L. BALL 

Was one of the more mature men who was active and 
prominent in laying the foundations of our political and 
social institutions. He came from the State of New York 
with his son, John Ball, in 1836. I have elsewhere given 
his date of settlement 1837, but it can be inferred safely 
that he came in 1836. In March, 1837, an election was 
held at his house, as also at the houses of Samuel D. 
Bryant and R. Eddy, which was the first county election, 
and Amsi L. Ball receiving seventy-eight votes was 
elected County Commissioner for three years. This 
office he in the summer resigned to run at the August 
election for Representative. He received the vote of 



SKETCHES OF EARLY SETTLERS. 30I 

Lake but not of Porter, and so failed to secure the posi- 
tion. 

He was rather tall in person, a fluent speaker, a demo- 
crat of those days, probably aspiring, and capable of 
holding positions. 

Solon Robinson was at that time a strong Whig — no 
wonder he did not like " Tylerism " — and he and A. L. 
Ball were politically unfriendly. Each has the credit of 
defeating, to some extent, the other's political aspirations. 
A. L. Ball continued, nevertheless, to be an influential, 
prominent man, but he did not remain a permanent citi- 
zen. It is said that domestic difficulties drove him away 
from his New York home, and he afterward, like a wise 
man, returned, between 1840 and 1850, the year I have 
not been able to ascertain, to his wife and his New York 
home. 

DUDLEY MERRILL, 

Who came with his brother William in 1837, bought the 
first claim made by A. L. or by John Ball, which was sit- 
uated on the bank of Deep River south of " Miller's 
mill." He afterwards obtained land near and in Centre- 
ville, and his brother William erected a large frame 
dwelling-house on the edge of the grove opposite the In- 
dian burial-ground. This brother died some years ago. 
Dudley Merrill is now living in the village of Centreville, 
or Merrillville, with three of his sons, and, with the excep- 
tion of the care of his hotel, has mostly retired from 
active business life. Two of his sons carry on the store, 
one of them, John P. Merrill, being the Township Trustee 
and discharging very satisfactorily its duties, in his rela- 
tions with the teachers very accommodating and pleasant. 



302 LAKE COUNTY. 

The cheese factory and farm, west of the village, are 
now carried on by L. Merrill. It seems pleasant for a 
father to be able thus to retire from pressing business 
cares and have his sons around him to take up the labo- 
rious duties of life. 

\VM. N. SVKES. 

A descendant of an ancient English family, the members 
of which have been Quakers, if of any religious profess- 
ion, since the days of Fox, himself a native of New 
Jersey, as early as 1836, W. N. Sykes is found as a promi- 
nent name among the squatter records. 

In person he was rather large, inclining to be portly, 
of fine appearance, neat in dress and person, gentlemanly 
in bearing, intelligent, and possessing a native refinement 
of mind. 

He was the first County Surveyor, being appointed by 
the Commissioners in May, 1837. He also held the 
office of County Commissioner. 

He never married, and sometimes boarded away from 
his own home. 

He died in August, 1853, and his dust reposes in the 
Centreville Cemetery. 

His brother, who has a large family, now resides upon 
the farm. 

JOHN WOOD. 

Another of the sons of Massachusetts, coming from 
the eastern part of the State, was John \\'ood, who made 
a claim and examined this region in 1835. Dr. Ames, of 
Michigan City, himself, and three or four others, spent a 
night in the cabin of Jesse Pierce on the bank of Tur- 
key Creek during that tour in 1835. He settled in 1836, 



SKETCHES OF EARLY SETTLERS. 303 

leaving Michigan City for his claim on Deep River July 
4th, of that year. He found that, during his absence, 
(jen. Tipton, of Fort Wayne, United States Senator, had 
laid a float upon his claim in the name of an Indian, 
Quashma. The land, as a mill seat, was not properly 
subject to an Indian float ; but he purchased the quarter 
section, paying for it, instead of ^200, the sum of $1,000. 
He has now in his possession Quashma's deed and sig- 
nature. 

He erected a saw-mill in 1837, and about 1838 com- 
pleted a grist-mill, the only one for some years in both 
Lake and Porter Counties. It was thronged with cus- 
tomers. 

Living at first on the east side of the river, in a few 
years he erected more substantial buildings on the west 
side ; his sons grew up and settled around him, the old- 
est now owning the mill, the second one a store, a third 
one farming, and a son-in-law the resident physician ; a 
number of grand-children now nearly grown in their 
various homes ; himself possessing ample means; he and 
the wife of his youth, who is a cousin of Mrs. Sarah B. 
Judson, and a noble New England woman, are now 
spending the evening of their days amid as much tran- 
quility and happiness as one could well ask for in our 
earthly lot. 

They have seen and experienced the changes of these 
past seven and thirty years, have been faithful toilers, 
and may now fittingly rest and enjoy. 

JOHN HACK 

Was the pioneer of the Germans, so many of whom from 
the densely populated districts of Prussia, from Hano- 



304 LAKE COUNTY. 

ver, Wurtemburg, and the late small principalities which 
now are united in the German Empire, have opened 
farms in the woodlands and have made their homes on 
our prairies. 

Tall and dignified in person, patriarchal in manner, 
clear and keen in intellect, he was well fitted to be a 
leader and pioneer. He settled with quite a large fam- 
ily, in 1837, on the western part of Prairie West. There 
was then an abundance of room around them. In the 
summer evenings the family would gather around an out- 
of-doors fire, the smoke of which would keep off" the 
musquitoes, and sing the songs of their native Rhine 
region, presenting a scene at once picturesque and im- 
pressive. Having shared their hospitalities one night in 
the summer of 1838, I had a fine opportunity to hear 
these beautiful evening songs of " the father-land." This 
family knew the privations of pioneer life. In common 
with others they shared the experiences of going to mill. 
One member of the family, M. Hack, was gone with 
horses to Gossett's mill, in Porter County, nine days. 
Other families soon settled near, and in a short time a 
chapel was erected, was consecrated, and regular relig- 
ious services were held. 

J. Hack was born in 1787, in one of those Rhine pro- 
vinces that passed from the possession of France into the 
control of Prussia. He had enlarged views of govern- 
ment, and looked closely into the genius of our institu- 
tions. He lived to see a great change in Prairie West 
and over this whole region, and died in 1856. 

Two of his sons became residents in Crown Point. 
The one, M. Hack, who kept the hotel, died a few years 



SKETCHES OF EARLY SETTLERS. 305 

ago ; the other, J. Hack, now carries on the blacksmith 
and wagon shops. He is now the oldest resident Ger- 
man, not in age, but in citizenship, in the county 

H. SASSE, SEN. 

In the summer or fall of 1838, Henry Sasse, Sen., the 
pioneer of the Lutheran Germans, coming from Michi- 
gan with a small family, bought the Cox claim at Cedar 
Lake, also a Chase claim. He came with some means, 
and like him who has just been mentioned, he was a man 
of more than ordinary intelligence and abilities. After 
improving his farm he sold to the Rasgen family and 
purchased a farm over West Creek, where he has ever 
since resided. 

He has made three visits to his native region, the 
ancient kingdom of Hanover, crossing the Atlantic 
seven times. 

He is now advanced in life, being some seventy years 
of age, and is well off in regard to property. Death has 
many times visited his household and he is left almost 
alone. His oldest son, Henry Sasse, Jun., has lived for 
many years on what was known as the Farlow farm, on 
the west side of Cedar Lake. He is a prosperous farmer, 
in the prime of life, and one of our truly intelligent 
teachers. 

H. VON HOLLEN. 

In the same year of 1838, and at about the same time, 
H. Von Hollen also came to Cedar Lake. He obtained 
the Taylor and Chase claim, about which an arbitration 
had formerly been held, and settled one-half mile north 
of H. Sasse. He was then a young housekeeper, and 
brought with him but little means. Being also intelli- 



306 LAKE COUNTY. 

gent and enterprising, he began to accumulate property. 
Like a number of others, he went into Illinois and 
worked on the canal for a short time. He bought the 
noted cranberry marsh not far from his claim. This 
proved to be an excellent investment. Industrious and 
economical he soon accumulated quite rapidly, and is 
now in the possession of ample means. He and his wife 
are still residing on the place where they first settled. 

LEWIS HERLITZ, 

The third Lutheran German, soon arrived and bought 
the Nordyke claim. He was a native of Pyrmont, a part 
of the principality of Waldeck, and was noted for his 
urbanity of manners. He built a nice residence on his 
woodland place, near the head of Cedar Lake, his sons 
and daughters grew up around him, and in September, 
1869, being about sixty-four years of age, he died. Both 
L. Herlitz and H. Sasse were more advanced in life when 
they first settled than was H. Von Hollen, judging from 
the appearance. They were all probably born about 
1802 or 1804. 

JOSEPH SCHMAL, 

One of the four Germans who settled on Prairie West in 
1838 died many years ago. 

JOSEPH SCHMAL, 

One of his sons, is now a resident farmer at Brunswick. 

ADAM SCHMAL, 

Another son, farming on Prairie West for several years, 
having been elected County Treasurer, removed to Crown 
Point in i866. He held the office for two terms, and 
still resides in town, holding for one year the office of 
Town Trustee. 



SKETCHES OF EARLY SETTLERS. 307 

WELLINGTON A. CLARK. 

Among the enterprising young men attracted by the 
wild lands of the West was W. A. Clark, a native of On- 
tario County, New York, a clerk in a wholesale grocery 
store at Albany. His brother, S. D. Clark, was doing 
business in Ohio, and was a thriving merchant, possess- 
ing considerable capital. The Albany clerk made a visit 
to his merchant brother in 1838, and through him 
■obtained a position as Supercargo on a schooner sent 
from Cleveland, Ohio, to Chicago, around the lakes. 
Few vessels at that time made regular lake trips. Dis- 
posing of his cargo at Chicago, W. A. Clark, then about 
twenty-three years of age, visited our county and ar- 
ranged with Adin Sanger, a relative, to hold for him a 
claim. He returned to his brother in Ohio and reported 
his sales at Chicago. In the spring of 1839, before the 
land sale at La Porte, Sanford D. Clark came out on 
horseback, and found some of our settlers about starting 
for the land sale. He furnished Adin Sanger with 
money to enter for W. A. Clark three hundred and eighty- 
four acres, which was more than a squatter could 
preempt. He also, having a good supply of funds, 
loaned to J- H. Sanger, to E. Cleveland, and to A. Mc- 
Donald, money for entering their claims ; and thus saved 
them from the necessity of borrowing, as so many set- 
tlers did, at La Porte. 

In the summer or fall of 1839 A. Sanger died, and W. 
A. Clark came out from Ohio with a buggy and com- 
menced, in the fall of 1839, improving his West Creek 
farm. He was then beginning life for himself, with 
health, industry, perseverence, and energy, for his capi- 



3o8 LAKE COUNTY. 

tal. Having ended his clerkship he begun to be a 
farmer. 

A family from Michigan City, who had been on a 
claim near Deep River in 1835 or 1836, but who had 
returned to the civilization and privileges of that city, 
settled northwest of Cedar Lake on the Green place, in 
1842. With this family, among the members of which 
were two young ladies who had just entered womanhood, 
W. A. Clark became acquainted. In December, 1843, 
he married one of these sisters. Miss Mary C. Hackley. 
The marriage ceremony was performed by Judge ^Vil- 
kinson, who, uniting both pleasure and profit with busi- 
ness, took his trusty rifle along and on the way, and near 
the home of the bride, killed a fine deer. The Judge 
was a true pioneer. 

In about 1846 W. A. Clark removed to Crown Point. 
He was now acting as an agent for Bragg in disposing of 
patent medicine, and soon became agent for Ayer, in the 
same line, and traveled over the State and made money. 
At Crown Point he built a good dwelling-house ; returned 
to his farm and built an excellent farm-house ; spent 
again a few years, including 1864 and 1865, at Crown 
Point; and once more returned to the West Creek home. 
In 1867 he erected and started the first cheese factory in 
the county ; kept, some of the time, two hundred cows ; 
became owner of a thousand acres north of Crown Point* 
and made improvements at the home place. In 1869 or 
1870 he disposed of the thousand acres near Crown 
Point and now holds his West Creek lands, in amount 
thirteen hundred and twenty acres. Involved in business 
year by year, he has made money, and is now worth some 



SKETCHES OF EARLY SETTLERS. 309 

$50,000, being among the wealthiest of the citizens of 
the county. But few families hold property representing 
more than that amount. And this is the result of thirty- 
four years toil in farming, in other business, in dairying, 
and includes the rise in value of land. Such a result 
ought to satisfy a settler in the West. It is true, men in 
commercial life, and in speculations in the meantime, 
may have made their millions, and others have lost as 
much, and more rapidly. " Let the golden stream be 
quick and violent," said Ortugul ; but when he looked 
again the mountain torrent was dry. Broad acres of rich 
lands are safer possessions than ships on the ocean with 
costly cargoes, or deposits in banks, or goods on the 
shelves, or " stocks " in the market. 

W. A. Clark has two sons and one daughter. At his 
home his friends find a cordial welcome and an abund- 
ance of the comforts of life. As he is yet apparently in 
the prime of life, although some fifty-seven years of age, 
and so well known in the county, I need not mention his 
excellent traits of disposition nor analyze and record the 
qualities which have contributed so largely to his success. 
It is sufficient to say that his early capital, although well 
used, has not become exhausted. A business talent has 
doubtless controlled. Men, to quite an extent, can be- 
come what they will, if they pay the price. 

D. R. MERRIS 

First settled near the Lone Tree north of Plum Grove, in 
1838, after traveling seventeen days with a team of oxen 
from Ohio. 

He suffered severely with the rheumatism. For some 
five months scarcely slept. An Indian calling in one 



3IO LAKE COUNTV. 

day, in broken English and by signs, inquired about his 
sufferings and prescribed a remedy. It was tried and 
proved very successful. 

In 1840 he bought at Pleasant Grove; raised a hewed 
log house in 1841. A frame house was erected in this 
settlement in 1840 by A. Clark, and a frame barn by 
John S. Evans in about 1843. D. R. Merris was by trade 
a carpenter. He built the Methodist Church in the 
Grove in 185 1 ; cost, $>5oo. 

A few years ago he sold his property in the Grove and 
removed to a farm on the old Indian-Town limits, a short 
distance south of Hebron, where he still resides, pleas- 
antly situated, witli abundant home comforts around 
him. 

EPHRAIM CLEVELAND 

Has been named among the early settlers at Pleasant 
Grove. He vvas one of the substantial citizens. He was 
Justice of the Peace, and Methodist Class Leader at the 
Grove for several years before his death. He died July 
13, 1845, while yet in the midst of an active and useful 
life. 

His son, T. Cleveland, is now a lawyer at Crown Point, 
and also proprietor and editor of the Crown Point Her- 
ald. 

JUDGE R. WILKINSON. 

As a member of that first party that came from the 
Wabash region and selected claims in 1834, R. Wilkin- 
son's name and date of settlement in 1835 have been 
already given, and some of his experiences will be found 
recorded among the incidents. Rut little therefore need 
be mentioned here. In 1837, at the first August election, 



SKETCHES OF EARLY SETTLERS. 3II 

he was elected first Probate Judge in Lake county. This 
office he held for several years. In about 1849 he 
removed with his family to Missouri. One son, John B. 
Wilkinson, returned at the time of the civil war, and has 
since then resided in Lowell. He is in the service of the 
United States as mail-carrier between Lowell and Crown 
Point. 

RUFUS HILL 

Became a resident in Pleasant Grove about the year 1839. 
He has one of the largest families in the county. Six 
sons are living who are men, Welcome, William, John, 
Charles, Martin, and Richard Hill, and several younger 
ones. He has had six daughters, not counting any 
among his young children. He is now about eighty 
years of age, attends to his affairs, and seems to be 
(juite a hale and active man. 

HENRY WELLS, 

A native of Massachusetts, has been named as entering 
this county with Luman A. Fowler, on the day after 
Solon Robinson first pitched his tent on this soil. Sheriff 
of the county by commission at its organization, he served 
out the term of L. A. Fowler, the first elected Sheriff, 
and also the term of J. A^. Johns, the second elected 
Sheriff, and was then himself elected and held the office 
eight years. He was appointed to the same office to 
complete the term of R. T. Tozier, who resigned. He 
was also elected County Treasurer and filled that office 
eight years. He was the third Swamp Land Commis- 
sioner. Probably no man in the county has passed more 
years here in official life. 

For the past few years he has been somewhat feeble 



312 LAKE COUNTY. 

and has retired from public and active life. He still 
retains the use of his mental faculties and is about seventy- 
two years of age. The best authority which I can 
obtain fixes his age as above, although it has been placed 
at eighty-two. 

A large number of the early settlers were born about 
the year 1800. Very few much before that year. 

Four sisters of H. Wells have resided among us, Mrs. 
R. Eddy, Mrs. Olive Eddy, Mrs. L. Gillingham, and Mrs. 
Sanford. The last one named is still living in Crown 
Point. His daughters are Mrs. A. Clark, Mrs. John Lu- 
ther, and Mrs. S. R. Pratt. His two sons, R. H. and 
Homer Wells are now dealers in agricultural implements- 
in Crown Point. 

CAPT. josf:ph p. smith. 

Coming from the City of New York in 1836, being 
then about thirty years of age, J. P., Smith found a place 
for the exercise of his qualifications and tastes, even 
among the squatters. He and J. V. Johns, who came 
from the City of Philadelphia, perhaps in the same year, 
or earlier, have the credit of having possessed the best 
counting-house education of any who have ever settled 
in our county. 

He held for many years the office of County Clerk. 
He also opened a store and did business a number of 
years. Among his clerks were some of our present promi- 
nent business men, Wm. Krimbill, H. S. Holton, and 
Alfred Fr3^ He commenced farming on the east side of 
School Grove and built the house now owned by J. 
Fisher, living on the farm some eleven years. His love 
for military drill and his Mexican campaign have been 



SKETCHES OF EARLY SETTLERS. 313 

mentioned. For a New York City military captain and 
an officer in the army, his death was a singular and sad 
one. In September, i86r, he went to the western fron- 
tier and entered again upon a new settler's life on the 
Platte River. February 5, 1872, he was in the woods 
chopping with two boys and a hired man, when the In- 
dians came upon them and shot them all dead with 
arrows. These were the first victims in the Indian mas- 
sacres of 1862. Thus he who had trained men for dress 
parade and for civilized warfare, who had been exposed 
to the dangers of strife in Mexico, fell on his country's 
soil, while engaged in peaceful labor, like pioneer settlers 
one hundred years ago, by the noiseless weapons of 
American savages. 

RUSSELL EDDY 

Was born in Pittstown, Rensselaer County, New York, 
April 23, 1787. He was the son of Gen. Gilbert Eddy, 
who was in command of a part of the New York troops 
in the war of 1812, and was himself a paymaster at that 
time in the army. He was afterward a merchant in 
Troy, married Miss Ruth Ann Wells, of Massachusetts, 
removed to Michigan City in 1836, and in 1837 became 
a resident at Crown Point. 

His two daughters, Eliza and Ruth Ann, married and 
died young. The former left a daughter, Juliet Town- 
send, who spent some time here on a visit during her 
girlhood, and who now resides with her husband in Wash- 
ington City. His only son, Russell A. Eddy, is now a 
resident in Crown Point. His wife died in 1859. In 
1 86 1 he married Miss Abby M. Kimball, of New Jersey. 
He died on Sunday, July i, 1871, being 84 years of age. 



314 LAKE COUNTY. 

I'he obituary notice in the Register closes with these 
words: "Thus another of the old settlers of Lake 
County has passed away. His life work has ended. He 
has gone where earthly distinctions are nothing. Of him. 
as of others, we may now say : 

' No further seek his merits to disclose, 

Or draw his frailties from their dread aljode; 
There they alike in trembling hope repose, 
The bosom of his Father and his God.' " 

RICHARD FANSHER. 

A member of the first exploring party who selected 
claims in 1834, as already recorded; losing a bundle of 
clothing, which the Indians found, and wliich they de- 
clined to restore, and, after meeting them in the West 
Creek woods, obtaining the value from them by selling 
them well watered whisky for furs; losing his claim after- 
ward by an Indian float being laid on Section 17, and no 
opportunity offering to make its value out of Indian trap- 
per or Indian trader ; R. Fansher lived for a season on 
his first claim on the bank of the little lake which bears 
his name, and has since 1S35 remained a citizen near or 
within the town of Crown Point. 

In those early days, before temperance societies had 
reached the outskirts of civilization, a large portion of 
the first squatters thought it needful to have with them, 
for cases of emergency, a little whisky, or some other 
form of fire-water. On the east side of Cedar Lake, the 
families being engaged in fishing and mill-building, and 
being in the water considerable, it was thought needful 
to use some stimulating drink, and the more thoughtful 



SKETCHES OF EARLY SETTLERS. 315 

descendants of those families are satisfied that too much 
was often used. At many of the trading points, as else- 
where stated, whisky, perhaps well diluted, was sold to 
the Indians for cranberries and fur. Some years after- 
wards, when the Lake County Temperance Society was 
organized, and prominent men of the county were mem- 
bers, a committee, it is said, was appointed to call on a 
certain dealer, now a prominent and well known citizen, 
whose name need not be recorded, and requested him to 
discontinue the traffic. "Oh," said he, " we are coming 
to the " cold water rapidly. What they drink now is 
t/irec-giiarters water.'' That such a traffic was lucrative 
will not be questioned. I return from this digression 
into which the mention of the Indian incident has led. 

R. Fansher is now about 73 years of age. He is cjuite 
active and vigorous, enjoying a good degree of health, 
doing considerable work in gardening. His son died in 
childhood. Three of his daughters, Mrs. Nicholson, Mrs. 
S. B. Clark, and Mrs. Clinghan, reside in Crown Point. 

JUIMjE \VM. CLARK. 

Judge Clark has been named as one of the earliest set- 
tlers at Crown Point, and in these records quite a full 
view has been given of the part he took in our first years 
of toil and privations. It is only needful to add here, 
that he was elected Associate Judge in 1837, which office 
he held for several years, that he spent one year between 
March, 1840, and March, i84i,at South East Grove, and 
then settled two miles east of town, where he spent the 
remainder of his life. He was a man of strong constitu- 
tion and good mental powers. He lived to be 81 years 
of age. During the last year of his life he became feeble. 
He died July 6, 1S69. 



3l6 LAKE COUNTY. 

W. A. W. AND J. W. HOLTON 

Were associated intimately with S. Robinson and Judge 
Clark in the settlements of 1835. Younger men by sev- 
eral years, one of them having a wife and young child, 
the other one not married, they have passed through the 
changes of these seven and thirty years and are not yet 
old. They are both now residing on farms about six 
miles north-east of Crown Point. W. A. W. Holton was 
the first Recorder of the county. He removed to Mis- 
souri and spent a few years, but again returned to Lake 
County. He is a man of much intelligence, and the fam- 
ily are connected with learned and cultivated men. J. 
W. Holton possesses quite fully some of the Holton 
eccentricities. One of these is, to wear a hat as little 
as possible. He has been a continuous resident since 
1835. His aged mother resides Avith him. His family 
genealogy will be elsewhere given. 

J. S. HOLTON, 

A member of a different family, came to this county in 
1844. Although not an early settler, as a business man, 
a merchant, and an office-holder, he has been for many 
years a prominent man in the county. He is one of the 
most wealthy citizens of Crown Point, and although now 
not in active business is yet in the prime of life. 

PELEG S. MASON. 

Like W. N. Sykes, Peleg S. Mason never married. 
Unlike him he led an almost hermit-like life. Li his 
younger days he had passed through many adventures, 
had been among the islands of the South Sea, had caught 
seals, had spent years of life in wandering. Reaching 
this county, perhaps as early as 1835 or 1836, he was a 



SKETCHES OF EARLY SETTLERS. 317 

candidate for Probate Judge, at the election in 1837. 
He was chosen as Register of Claims to succeed Solon 
Robinson, and held the ofifice until the registering of 
claims ceased. He was in some respects eccentric. He 
was then in middle age, and it may be reasonably sup- 
posed had good cause for being the lone and sad-hearted 
man that he seemed. He was owner of some land in 
Georgia, and made trips on foot, across Kentucky and 
Tennessee, to look after his interest there. A trip occu- 
pied some six weeks. His residence was near the Outlet 
and not far from the present bridge. He often visited at 
Lewis Warriner's, at the post office. One winter, about 
1847, he went over daily, as usual, to read the news. The 
weather was cold. One day he failed to come. The 
next day he failed, and L. Warriner went over to his 
house to see if anything had happened to the lone occu- 
pant. He found him out of fuel and down in his cellar, 
suffering with the cold, and trying in vain to find warmth. 
L. Warriner conveyed him to his own home, and gave 
him care and comfort, but in some two days he died. 
Thus a lonely man perished, one of whose inner life few 
knew anything. 

Drawing near one morning, rather early, to a neigh- 
bor's dwelling, he heard the voice of singing and then 
the morning prayer, and it affected him deeply, recalling 
memories of a childhood and youth when he was neither 
care-worn nor lone. 

He wrote once a touching reply to an invitation from 
the Cedar Lake Belles-Lettres to deliver an address. 

The mystery of his life I am unable to solve, although 
aware of one its later dark passages, but I have recorded 
-i 



31 8 LAKE COUNTY. 

as one of the names that ought not to be forgotten in our 
history, the name of our last Register of Claims, Peleg 
S. Mason. 

WM. ROCKWELL, 

In October, 1837, settled on Prairie AVest. He was 
elected County Commissioner about 1840, and held the 
office a number of years. He was a faithful officer. He 
died in 1853 or 1854. His two sons, W. B. and T. Rock- 
well, are well known citizens at Crown Point. 

RICHARD CHVRCH 

Settled on the same prairie, and near the same place, still 
earlier in 1837. His claim was made in 1836 and, on the 
authority of the Claim Register, the family settlement 
has been placed in 1836. But other evidence is in favor 
of 1837. R. Church was the father of seven sons, Dar- 
ling, Austin, Alonzo, John, Charles, Munson, and Eli ; 
and of four daughters. Most of these were men and 
women in 1837. A son-in-law, Leonard Cutler, made a 
claim also in this same neighborhood, and broke up that 
season one hundred acres of prairie, the largest breaking 
then in the county. The work was done by G. Parkin- 
son, of South East Grove. The Church and Cutler fam- 
ilies were among the constituent members of the Cedar 
Lake Church. Richard Church died many years ago. 

Darling Church's wife was a daughter of W. Rockwell. 
The wife of C. L. Templeton, of Cedar Creek, is another 
daughter. These families came from the State of New 
York. Nearly all of the large Church and Cutler families 
are yet living, but no member is remaining in this county. 
Some are in Michigan, some in Illinois, some in the far 
West, some in Wisconsin. All are intelligent, enterpris- 



SKETCHES OF EARLY SETTLERS. 319 

ing, and virtuous; and many are active and excellent 
church members in their own communities. They have 
been sadly missed here. Mrs. Alonzo Cutler, the third 
daughter of R. Church, resides in La Porte County. Her 
husband is wealthy and her sons enterprising. 

Other members of this large family are referred to in 
this volume. 

JUDGE BENJAiMlN MCCARTY. 

Succeeding Dr. Lilly on the east side of Cedar Lake, 
having given a county seat to Porter County, he was an 
active competitor for the location of the county seat in 
Lake County with Solon Robinson and George Earle. A 
village had been commenced by Dr. Lilly on the north- 
east declivity of the lake bank by a hotel and a store. 
This, for a few years, was a central point where neigh- 
bors gathered, where religious meetings were held, and 
out from which influences of some kind reached the sur- 
rounding settlers. 

B. McCarty had a large family, consisting of his wife, 
two daughters, and six sons. These sons were Enoch 
Smiley, Win. Pleasant, Franklin, F. Asbury, Morgan, and 
Jonathan. E. S. McCarty, probably in 1840, erected a 
brick kiln, and thus supplied the settlers with material 
for chimneys. The family kept some of the best horses 
then in the county, and the sons, two of whom were 
young men, gave more attention to dress and looks than 
most of the settlers' sons. They had enjoyed more ad- 
vantages than some others, and were naturally aspiring. 
In a few years the family moved to the prairie and 
opened a farm in what is now called Tinkerville, where 
the Hill family have resided for many past years. The 



320 LAKE COUNTY. 

two older sons soon commenced teaching and married. 
The oldest one, E. S. McCarty, married a lad}^ from 
White Post; the second, W. P. McCarty, married a 
daughter of Rev. G. Taylor, in Pleasant Grove. The 
older daughter married Israel Taylor, son of Adonijah 
Taylor, who lived at the Outlet ; the younger daughter 
married George Belshaw. For several years the family 
remained on the farm ; the father, B. McCarty, had the 
title of Judge, but I am unable to learn its origin. 

Pie was not on the strong side politically, in this 
county, and so was not elected to the highest offices of 
honor or trust. He had, however, represented the tv/o 
counties of Porter and Lake before becoming a citizen of 
Lake. 

Selling his prairie farm, at length, he removed to Iowa 
with some of his sons. The others and one daughter, 
Mrs. George Belshaw, went to the Pacific coast. Frank- 
lin McCarty alone remained at Tinkerville on a farm. 

EBENEZER SAXTON, 

In whose door yard is the old Indian dancing-ground, 
and in whose garden is the Pottowatomie burial place of 
the McGwinn village, is another of the early settlers yet 
remaining, one whose life has been marked by many 
struggles, and one who has had more than an ordinary 
share of trials and conflicts. 

Originally a native of Vermont, he came to this county 
from Canada, at the time of the Patriot War in 1837. 
(The Sherman family and M. M. Mills came from the 
same region at about the same time.) Having sold his 
Canadian farm on a credit, he started with his family 
in a wagon drawn by oxen, and traveled four hundred 



SKETCHES OF EARLY SETTLERS. 32 1 

miles to Detroit. He at length entered Lake County, 
crossed Deep River at Liverpool on a ferry boat. Eight 
families, it appears, were on board, with ox teams and 
loading. The boat sunk. The families were taken over. 
The boat was relieved of some of the weight, raised, 
caulked, and the oxen brought over. E. Saxton had now 
five dollars in gold. Coming to Turkey Creek, the team 
for the first time on the route, stuck fast in the mud. He 
gave two dollars to a man near by for helping them out. 
He reached Wiggins' cabin and entered, and rested, and 
finally located. 

A few of his early experiences are illustrative of new- 
settlement ways and trials. 

He bought on Door Prairie ten bushels of corn for 
twenty days' work. Corn was two dollars a bushel, and 
work was one dollar a day. He gave a man one half of 
this to take it to mill, and obtained therefore for the work 
of twenty days the meal of five bushels of corn. He 
went to Door Prairie and rented some land of one Dr. 
Wilkinson, for which he was to pay two dollars an acre. 
The doctor delayed to write out the contract, the wheat 
grew and promised a large yield. The doctor denied the 
contract, and as it was only verbal and no witness to it 
was at hand, it could not be proved. E. Saxton con- 
sulted a lawyer. The advice given was to take two-thirds 
of the crop and leave one-third for the owner of the land, 
according to the established custom. This he did, and 
locked up ninety bushels in a barn, and took twenty 
bushels to mill. When near the mill his load upset into 
the water. The miller furnished him with one hundred 
pounds of flour. He left the wheat to dry and returned 



322 LAKE COUNTY. 

home. The doctor, the owner of the land, during his ab- 
sence, not satisfied with the landlord's third, obtained a 
landlord's warrant, opened the barn and had the ninety 
bushels sold at ten cents a bushel. All therefore that 
E. Saxton obtained for his labor, and for more than a 
hundred bushels of wheat rightfully his own, was the 
hundred pounds of flour. The result had been too dis- 
heartening for him to return to the mill. The landlord 
had the power and there was no redress. 

One other effort in obtaining provisions met with a dif- 
ferent result. In March, 1838, he bought, of a man from 
Michigan City going to Crown Point, fifteen hundred 
pounds of (lour. He was to pay in team work at two 
dollars a day. The work was to be done at Michigan 
City. He went with his team ; did one-half of the 
amount of work, and was ready to do the other half; then 
the man discharged him, as he wanted no more work. 
Some time afterward the Michigan City man entered suit 
at Liverpool for the remainder that was due to be paid 
in money. A capias came for E. Saxton to appear at 
Liverpool. He took Wiggins along behind him on his 
horse. Passing out of Turkey Creek, Wiggins unfortu- 
nately slipped off into the water. He did not drown, and 
remounting, proceeded. The trial came on, the bargain 
was proved, and the Justice decided fifty cents in favor 
of the plaintiff. So the other half of the work for the 
fifteen hundred pounds of flour was never done. The 
suit disposed of the contract. 

E. Saxton lost his wheat stacks one year by fire. This 
involved him and others in a lengthy law case. 

He is now quite advanced in years, has i)assed through 



SKETCHES OF EARLY SETTLERS. 323 

many vicissitudes, has evidently possessed a strong con- 
stitution, and enjoys a vigorous old age. 

He once crossed the prairie between his home and 
Crown Point, to bring Solon Robinson across to Lake 
C. H., in the short time of twenty minutes. It was in 
the winter, the prairie was crusted over with ice, no fences 
were in the way, and his horses were fleet. 

JAMES ADAMS. 

In the year 1835 James Adams passed through Liver- 
pool on his way to Chicago or Fort Dearborn. He 
returned in the winter to Michigan. In January, 1837, 
during the Patriot's War in Canada, he was sent by Gov. 
Mason and Gen. Brady, from Detroit to Chicago, as mes- 
senger extraordinary to obtain soldiers from Fort Dear- 
born to aid in the defense of Detroit. There was, it may 
be remembered, a stage route then between these two 
places. The sleighing was at this time good. Warmly 
clad, furnished by Gen. Brady with a pair of goad fur 
gloves, receiving instructions to make the distance in 
twenty-four hours if possible, he left Detroit at four P. M. 
in a sleigh drawn by a good stage horse. At each stop- 
ping place, the distance between being about twelve or 
fifteen miles, he gave the attending hostler a few mo- 
ments for changing his horse, requiring the best horse in 
the stable, and dashed on. At eight P. M. of the next 
•day he entered Chicago ; thus making the distance in 
twenty-eight hours, probably the shortest time in which 
a man ever passed over that route drawn by horse power. 
He delivered his instructions to Captain Jamison, who 
-chartered the stage coaches and sent the soldiers imme- 
diately to Detroit. J. Adams was allowed to remain off 
■duty for four weeks. 



324 LAKE COUNTY. 

In 1840 he was on the stage route from Michigan City 
to Chicago. In 1842 he bought in Lake County. In Oc- 
tober he became a resident, and continues to reside on 
his well cultivated farm between Merrillville and Hobart. 
He has an excellent well of water. There is a strip run- 
ning across that neighborhood, about three miles long and 
eighty rods wide, where good water can be obtained at a 
depth of from sixteen to eighteen feet. On each side of 
this narrow strip it is needful to go about forty feet to 
obtain water. 

J. Adams is very sociable and hospitable, and the 
friend who finds himself there at night-fall is sure of a 
cordial reception, and will find well furnished rooms and 
abundance of home comforts. 

MAJOR C. FARWELL, 

The son of an early settler on West Creek, himself a 
member of that party who spent July 4, 1833, in the un- 
broken solitude of what is now the county seat of Lake, 
from whom I learn that several families were in that 
company, that they duly celebrated that anniversary day,, 
and remained in the locality about a week, — left his 
father's place on ^^'est Creek, settled at School Grove^ 
erected a blacksmith's shop, and made plows. In 1841 
he removed to Crown Point, built a hewed log shop, in 
1842 put up a frame building, stocked plows, and made 
wagons. He also made a few buggies and some cutters. 
He sold out about 185 1 to Dr. Farrington, went to Hick- 
ory Creek, remained some three years, went to Iowa City, 
rambled for some five years over Colorado, Idaho, and 
Montana, and is now residing at Carthage, Missouri. 
He probably should be called our first plow, wagon, and 
buggy manufacturer. 



SKETCHES OF EARLY SETTLERS. 325 

DON CARLOS FARWELL, 

Another member of the same family, who went westward 
many years ago, now resides in Virginia City, Montana 
Territory. 

JOHN BROWN 

Came to South East Grove in 1840. His brother, who 
has been elsewhere mentioned, came in the same year ; and 
another brother, Wm. Brown, still later. John Brown is 
one of the few men in Lake County who has lived unmar- 
ried. For some twenty years his home has been with the 
Crawford family. He owns a rich farm, is well-off, is 
open-hearted, sociable, and intelligent. He has passed 
the meridian of life. 

CYRUS M. MASON 

Became a resident here in 1840. The Farmer family, into 
which he afterward married, became residents in 1838. 
Mrs. Mason is therefore one of our early inhabitants. C. 
M. Mason was chosen as one of the two first elders of the 
Presbyterian Church at its organization in 1843 or 1844, 
and has ever since been identified with its interests. Fie 
resides a short distance east of town, has a good farm, 
and seems to be in a situation for spending a pleasant 
evening of life, as he, like the others, who " have borne 
the burden and heat of the day " in building foundations^ 
looks forward to an enduring home. 

AMOS HORNOR, 

A young man when the members of his father's family, in 
1834 and 1835, made choice selections of wild land and 
laid claim to woodland and prairie west of Cedar Lake, 
is the only one left in the county as representative of 
those first claimants. He came to Crown Point about 



326 LAKE COUNTY. 

1844, married Miss Mary White, who died April 17, 1845, 
at the age of eighteen years. He married again in 1857, 
made his home at Ross, and is one of the principal citi- 
zens of that village. 

His brother, Henry Hornor, died May 8, 1847, being 
twenty-seven years of age. 

The other members of that large family returned to the 
Wabash region. 

DK. H. PETTIEONE 

Is the oldest resident physician in Crown Point. He lo- 
cated here in 1847. (In that year, not in 1846, as given 
in the table of physicians. Dr. A. Stone left Crown Point). 
Dr. Pettibone has acquired an extensive practice. He 
married Mrs. H. S. Pelton, formerly Miss Eliza Hackley, 
and has built a nice residence on the place once occupied 
by H. S. Pelton and by Milo Robinson. The grove near 
his house is supposed to be the spot where the United 
States surveyors camped in the summer of 1834. 

Although not himself one of the earliest settlers, his fam- 
ily connection places him among them. His father is a 
retired physician, from the East, who has been living for 
several years in town with his sons, the doctor and D. K. 
Pettibone, and his own son Henry Pettibone, having spent 
some time at Hanover College, is now at home, a prom- 
ising medical student. His older daughter is a member 
of the Seminary at Oxford. The younger daughter 
attends the home schools. Dr. Pettibone apjjroves of 
educating children. His means are ample, his real estate 
interests being considerable and his practice still large. 

In 1869 thirteen physicians of the county formed an 
agreement to establish uniform rates, adopting a " Fee-bill 



SKETCHES OF EARLY SETTLERS. 327 

of the practicing physicians of Lake County, Indiana." 
Into this agreement Dr. Pettibone declined to enter, ad- 
hering to his own more moderate charges. 

LUM.A.N A. FOWLER 

Was one of the earliest settlers. His name has been sev- 
eral times recorded. He seems to have been the most 
popular man in the county for sheriff, having been elected 
for five terms of that office. He spent, after his first set- 
tlement here, some time in California. He returned 
here, again held office, and died in April, 1870. 

MILO ROBINSON, 

A brother of Solon Robinson, who engaged with him in 
merchandising and who kept the first public house, died, 
as elsewhere mentioned, in 1839. 

H. S. PELTON, 

A successor in location and business to those ab(>ve 
named, was a successful merchant and rapidly accumu- 
lating, when he suddenly died in 1847. 

W. G. MCGLASHON, 

Whose date among us is 1846, has been connected with 
the mercantile interests of Crown Point during some 
twenty years. He was first a clerk for Wm. Allton, on 
the east side of the square, in 1850; then for Turner & 
Bissel, successors to J. W. Dinwiddie, on the west side, 
for six months; then for D. Turner, Turner & Cramer, 
and for Strait, during the next four years. He was then 
clerk in the store of A. H. Merton, successor to Turner 
& Cramer, for one year and a half; and leaving Merton 
was clerk for John G. Hoffman, on the south side, during 
the next year and a half. He now, in 1858, went into 
•business for himself on the east side, in the building now 



328 LAKE COUNTY. 

occupied by Goulding and Son, and soon removed to the 
south side. In i860 he purchased a stock of goods in 
Boston and occupied the building now occupied by H. 
P. Swartz's drug store. He here received as a partner 
M. L. Barber. He removed to the south side once more, 
kept the post ofifice and did the express business, after 
the completion of the railroad ; bought out M. L. Bar- 
ber, and finally closed business and retired to a farm 
some four miles south of town in 1867. In 187 1 he re- 
turned to Crown Point and resumed the occupation of 
trade. This he is still continuing, in the building for- 
merly occupied by H. Farmer on the south side of the 
public square. His twenty years' experience has given 
him a large actiuaintance with those who buy and sell in 
Crown Point. 

HON. MARTIN WOOD, 

Although not an early settler, has furnished materials 
which will readily work in here. 

April 4, 1848, he came among us. He commenced the 
practice of the law. He also taught in the public school. 
He married Afiss S. Taylor, of Pleasant Grove, August 
26, 1849. He settled on a suburban farm of fifty-five acres 
in 1855. Ten acres are now enclosed with ornamental 
trees. He has a large orchard, containing besides apples, 
pears, quinces, and peaches. He has a variety of small 
fruit and much ornamental shrubbery. Pie has some 
twenty varieties or more of ornamental trees, rare varie- 
ties and a large amount of evergreens, and has devoted 
time and expense to adorning his place. His evergreens 
number about eight hundred. They include arbor vitae, 
red cedar, Norway spruce, Scotch pine, white and yellow 



SKETCHES OF EARLY SETTLERS. 329 

pine, silver spruce, Austrian pine, AVeymouth pine, Sibe- 
rian arbor vitre, balsam fir, and juniper. He has just 
erected a new dwelling-house, is having a large law prac- 
tice, and this fall, for the second term, has been elected 
a member of the State Legislature. 

MAJOR E.. GRIFFIN 

Is our next oldest resident lawyer. His date of settle- 
ment is 1857. He was gaining position rapidly in his 
profession, and at the time of the Civil War he entered 
the army. He received the position of pay-master, which 
gave him the title of Major. Returning to Crown Point 
he soon obtained a very lucrative position in locating and 
managing the Vincennes, Danville, and Chicago railroad. 
He was now afflicted with disease, and returned to his 
home, where he spent many weary months, and for some 
time was not expected to mingle again in the business 
affairs of life. He did at length recover some degree of 
health, and although not able as formerly to engage in 
forensic arguments, is now resuming, to some extent, 
the practice of the law. He has, associated with him in 
business, a young and promising lawyer, a late graduate 
of Michigan University, J. W. Youche. 

He has commenced the erection of a large and costly 
dwelling house. He has been a large owner in Railroad 
Addition, and has laid out himself an addition to Crown 
Point. 



TEACHERS. 

O. H. SPENCER 

Came to Lake County in 1848. He has lived ever since 
near or in Hobart. He taught his first school in 1852, 



;^;^0 LAKE COUNTY. 

when near sixteen years of age, and has taught in this 
and in Porter County, near the line, forty-seven terms. 
His wife has taught in the same region, twenty-seven 
terms. Surely a good teacher's record. 

REV. H. WASON, 

A native of Massachusetts, for many years a resident pas- 
tor at Vevay, Indiana, became tlie first i)astor of the Lake 
Prairie Church in 1856. He has ever since resided on 
Lake Prairie, is the owner of an excellent farm, has been 
President of the Sabbath School Convention and Agri- 
cultural Society, and in 1867 represented the county in 
the State Legislature. Both he and his wife, (who is a 
woman of sterling qualities, an excellent pastor's wife, a 
good singer), have been successful teachers. Their elder 
daughter graduated at Oxford recently, and the younger 
is now a student at that seminary. Their son, attending 
the Wabash' College for a season, is now devoting his 
energies to the cultivation of the farm. Such families 
are very valuable in a community. Such peaceful, lov- 
ing, Christian homes, of comfort and abundance, make 
us think what earth and home might be. 
Some one once wrote. 

" Holy and fervent love 1 liad earth but rest 
For thee and thine, this world were all too fair." 



IMEI.VIN A. HALSTEI). 

I come again to a business man, to one whose name is 
written in large characters at Lowell. So near as I can 
ascertain, in 1845 ^""^ settled on a farm at the south end 
of Lake Prairie. He went to California when the gold 
discoveries were made known. He returned with means. 



SKETCHES OF EARLY SETTLERS. 33 1 

and commenced a mill and improvements at Lowell. He 
laid out a town. A business centre was formed and 
grew quite rapidly. He drew the Pleasant Grove village 
prospect and interests to his mill seat and its surround- 
ings. He laid out money faster than it came in. Thus- 
he became financially somewhat involved. 

In 1857 he sold the Lowell mill property to Sigler, Has- 
kins, and Scritchfield, and went to Southern Illinois and 
then to California. Returning with quite ample means 
in 1864, he bought back the Lowell mill, bought the Mc- 
Carty mill, and was also the owner of the Foley mill, 
thus having the exclusive control of all the mill prop- 
erty south of Crown Point. He began to improve Cedar 
Lake, to make use of it as a reservoir of water for sum- 
mer and autumn drought. As by keeping the water up 
in the spring some of the low lands, meadow and marsh, 
south of Cedar Lake would be flooded longer than usual^ 
the owners of these lands raised objections to his im- 
provements. Quite a lengthy and expensive law suit was 
the result, terminated at length by the rights of the land- 
holders being defined and secured. 

Continuing to spend money rapidly, after erecting as 
trustee, the Lowell School House, and building with 
others, the brick factory, he disposed once more of all 
his Lowell interests, and returned to the Pacific coast to 
resume the business of accumulation. The order of his 
life seems to have been to accumulate there and to ex- 
pend here. One more ready and lavish in expending has 
not dwelt among us, and no one therefore, in proportion 
to his means, — and these have been quite ample — has 
done more in aiding useful material, and also moral and 
religious interests, than M. A. Halsted, 



332 LAKE COUNTY. 

JOHN KROST 

Is one of our citizens who, by means of talent, and intel- 
ligence, and effort, has become prominent in the county. 
In April, 1853, he became a resident, first as clerk in the 
store of Sanders, at Hobart, for a year, then as clerk in 
the store of Hale and Kenney, at Merrillville, for about 
six years, and then, for the next two years, a farmer. In 
1862 he was elected County Treasurer, and held the office 
till 1867. In 1868 he was elected auditor, and is now, 
1872, in the second term of that office. He is accommo- 
dating, courteous, and gentlemanly; and has a pleasant 
home on Main Street, enjoying with his family the advan- 
tages of position, comforts, and refinement. His three 
sons, Frederick, Joseph, and John, are distinguished 
among the boys at Crown Point for their politeness; and 
if they continue to practice their present qualities they 
will be quite sure to unfold into a noble type of man- 
hood. 

ZERAH F. SUMMERS, 

A son of Benjamin Summers, of Ohio, came to Crown 
Point in November, 1854. He became County Surveyor 
about 1856. In 1859 he was elected County Clerk, and 
held that office until 1867. He married a daughter of 
Ambrose S. Thomas, of New York. In 1865 he erected 
a warehouse at the depot and commenced buying grain. 
He purchased the warehouse occupied by M. L. Barber, 
erected a grain building at Cassville, and has shipped 
from the three houses during these five years, a large 
(juantity of grain. 

He was engaged several months as civil engineer in 
laying out the Vincennes, Danville and Chicago railroad. 



SKETCHES OF EARLY SETTLERS. ;^^;^ 

He is a good engineer, an excellent businessman, sharing 
largely in the confidence of his fellow citizens throughout 
the county. 

JAMES H. LUTHER, 

Who in 1833 settled in La Porte County, and married a 
Lake County girl, Miss P. A. Flint, in 1840, became a 
resident here in 1849. He kept the hotel, now the Rock- 
well House, from 1852 to 1854, having married, as a sec- 
ond wife, Mrs. M. M. Mills. In 1852 he was elected 
Justice of the Peace. In i860 he was elected County 
Auditor and held the office for two terms. He discharged 
the duties of that office with great fidelity. He has also 
held the offices of Township Assessor and of School Di- 
rector. He is one of the Crown Point capitalists. 
Whether a lineal descendant or not of Martin Luther the 
Reformer, he has not been able yet fully to establish ; but 
he is strongly in favor of social reforms, and is liberal in 
his views in regard to religious teachings. He possesses 
excellent qualities as a citizen, a neighbor, and a friend, 
and is deservedly held in high esteem by those who share 
his friendship and confidence. 

MRS. MARIAH ROBINSON. 

I make room for the names of a few representative 
women in this Chapter of Sketches, but have records 
concerning only a few. The following extracts are taken 
from the Crown Point Register of March 7, 1872 : 

" Mrs. Robinson was born November 16, 1799, near 
Philadelphia, in which city her early life was spent. She 
was married to Solon Robinson in Cincinnati on the 12th 
of May, 1828, and after a few years removed with him to 
Madison, Indiana, subsequently to Rock Creek, in Jen- 



334 LAKE COUNTY. 

nings County, and in' 1834 she came with her husband, 
an assistant, and two small children, beyond the then 
borders of civilization, to this extreme northwest corner 
of Indiana. They journeyed hence by the slow and meas- 
ured tread of oxen, camping out nights, and cooking 
their own meals each day. They found here nothing 
but the rude wigwams of the red man ; " and Mrs. Rob- 
inson saw their log cabin rise, " watching its progress 
with peculiar interest, as the little kingdom which she 
was soon to enter as queen. Ah ! those happy days of 
privation, and struggles, and hardships, when the woman 
of such indomitable energy and perseverance is permit- 
ted to work side by side, hand in hand, with her co-worker, 
to lay the foundation of a future home of plenty and 
comfort, where, surrounded by her family, she expects to 
glide softly down the decline of life, enjoying the reward 
of her faithful labors ! But alas ! in this case, a hope so 
cruelly blighted. All the hardships of pioneer life were 
hers to encounter, and all the privations as well as all the 
indescribable terrors one experiences when settling among 
only savages." Often, when she was alone with her chil- 
dren, the Indians would call into her cabin, and at first 
she was quite startled by some of their actions. They 
never, however, offered to do any real harm. 

" Thus commenced Mrs. Robinson's life in this place 
— a life of toil and hardship, which has continued such 
until within the past few years. *«•*** 

" In 1852 her desertion by her husband, leaving her 
with the care of her four children, at an age when a 
father's influence was most needed, left her worse than 
widowed. Vet through the twenty remaining years of 



SKETCHES OF EARLY SETTLERS. 335 

her life, in which griefs have multiplied, having buried 
both her sons in early manhood, she has nevertheless 
maintained her characteristic cheerfulness, ever closing 
her heart upon her own sorrows but opening it always to 
the wants and griefs of others. The poor have always 
blessed her for her charities. The sick have been cheered 
and comforted by her care and sympathy. Sabbath 
Schools and benevolent societies have never had their 
solicitations refused, and churches have shared alike in 
her generosity. 

" She was truly a remarkable w^oman ; possessed of a 
remarkable degree of efficiency and executive ability ; 
companionable alike to old and young ; always cheerful 
and vivacious, she was always welcomed into any circle ; 
and never at enmity with any person in the place during 
all these forty years." 

She died February 28, 1872, at the residence of her 
son-in-law, Frank S. Bedell. Her two daughters, Mrs. J. 
S. Strait, of Minnesota, and Mrs. L. G. Bedell, were with 
her during her last days. 

" She welcomed death, and her life went out sweetly, 
peacefully, with a sustaining faith in God." 

MRS. H. HOLTON 

Has been mentioned as the first teacher whose name is 
on record here. She also was one of the pioneer women 
in the country, coming in February, 1835. She is still 
living near Crown Point with her son, J. A. W. Holton, 
being almost four-score and ten years old. 

MRS. JUDGE CLARK, 

Settling at the same time, died many years ago. 



336 LAKE COUNTY. 

MRS. L. A. FOWLER, 

Whose husband was for many years so prominent in offi- 
cial life, is yet living in a pleasant residence in the north- 
west part of town. 

MRS. J. p. SMITH, 

Is also yet living, and spends part of her time in the 
West and a part with her daughter, Mrs. Keily, in Crown 
Point. 

MRS. R. FANCHER AND MRS. HENRY WELLS, 

Also both died several years ago. 

MRS. RUSSELL EDDY, 

Still another of the first settlers in Crown Point, a woman 
of great industry, energy, and hospitality, a very active 
member of the Presbyterian Church, also died a number 
of years ago. She was, so far as is known, the first Sun- 
day School teacher in Lake County, and as such her 
name is here recorded for honorable remembrance. She 
was a member of a large Massachusetts family, and at 
that time, before any Presbyterian or Baptist Church had 
been organized, she was holding a letter of dismission 
from the Baptist Church at Troy, New York. The first 
annual report of the Secretary of the Lake County Sun- 
day School Convention, contains this record : " Hers is 
the first name in the Sabbath Schools of our county. Her 
school was commenced probably in 1837, four years after 
the first school held in Chicago. It was not called a 
Sunday School on account of the opposition to religion 
all around her, but was a gathering of the children to 
study the Scriptures." 

MRS. LUCY TAYLOR, 

Wife of Adonijah Taylor, of East Cedar Lake, and 



SKETCHES OF EARLY SETTLERS. 337 

mother of a large family of children, an estimable woman, 
an affectionate wife and mother, making home pleasant 
by her cheerfulness and life, was born in Vermont, Au- 
gust 12, 1792. She was one of the first four or five 
women making homes for their husbands and children on 
the east side of the lake. She was baptized by Elder 
Thomas Hunt in 1850, and became a member of the Ce- 
dar Lake Church. She was the last but one of all the 
early matrons in that part of the county, and died Decem- 
ber 10, 1869, being seventy-seven years of age. 

MRS. J. A. H. BALL 

Has been already mentioned as one of the first teachers. 
She is the last survivor, in this region, of the early set- 
tlers around Cedar Lake, who were then in or near the 
prime of life. The daughter and grand-daughter of phy- 
sicians who attained considerable success in their pro- 
fession, and who had practiced for long years in the same 
town and resided on the same spot, she either inherited 
or had acquired skill and inclination for the practice of 
medicine. Bringing from her father's home a well filled 
medicine chest, lancets, tooth-pulling instruments, apoth- 
ecaries' scales and weights, with the knowledge of their 
uses, she found these all extremely useful to her own fam- 
ily and to her neighbors amid the prevailing sickness of 
1838 and the wants and accidents of many later years. 
Her education in the best schools of the city of Hart- 
ford just when Mrs. Sigourney retired from the position 
of a teacher, when Prof. Sumner and Mrs. Lincoln were 
giving instructions in natural science, and Prof. Patton 
was conducting a school in which both the solid and or- 
namental branches were taught, and her acquaintance 



338 LAKE COUNTY. 

with those who were the leaders in literary and social 
life in that city between the years 1819 and 1824, fitted 
her peculiarly for teaching. Botany until about this time 
had been taught in Latin, but it was now introduced in 
an English garb into Hartford by Dr. Sumner, a distin- 
guished botanical author, whose lectures she attended ; 
having also for a teacher a grand daughter of Gen. Put- 
nam. The botanical knowledge here gained, having a 
teacher so enthusiastic, was very accurate and practical. 
She had also, a rare acquirement even now, given atten- 
tion to Hebrew, and wrote those old characters with facil- 
ity and beauty. But her training in her father's home 
fitted her for a very different and highly needful service. 
She dispensed medicine not only to her own family but 
to her neighbors, in what is now the township of Hanover. 
She was often called for to visit the sick, and to go for 
miles in the still hours of night where there was human 
suffering. If she considered the patient quite dangerous 
she would recommend the calling of a physician. If not 
very dangerous she would treat the case herself. 

Small in person, but of dauntless courage and great 
nerve power, she extracted teeth for stout men and 
women who wondered that she had so much strength. 
She bled when necessary. 

One day Thomas Farlow, of Michigan City, was 
brought into her home quite seriously hurt by having 
been thrown from his wagon. To prevent inflammation 
or congestion it was needful for him to be bled. She 
took her lancet and bled him with the coolness and suc- 
cess of an army surgeon. Had she given attention to 
surgery, so far as entire control of her nerves was con- 



SKETCHES OF EARLY SETTLERS, 339 

cerned, she would have taken off a limb from her own 
child or a stranger, if necessity required it, with entire 
calmness. But needlessly she would never inflict pain. 
For medicines and for extracting teeth I think she gener- 
ally received pay, for her time she received no remuner- 
ation. Thus, for many years, she performed to quite an 
extent the duties of a female physician, besides attend- 
ing to her household duties, having the care, as a very 
faithful mother, of seven children, and performing a 
teacher's work. She had in those days very keen eyesight, 
and although her health remained firm, her eyes, proba- 
bly from excessive night-work, before the days of sewing 
machines, gave way. She suffered with them for years 
and nearly lost the sight of one. 

Although in the decline of life she has as yet firm 
health, a descendant of a long-lived family, and still 
attends to the wants of the suffering where duty calls. 
Had she commenced life some years later, and so shared 
the opportunities now granted to women, she would quite 
surely have become a distinguished female physician. As 
it is she has in this department served her generation 
well. 

A member in her young days of the Baptist Church at 
Agawam, Massachusetts, she was a member of the Cedar 
Lake Church, and afterv/ard of the Baptist Church at 
Crown Point, and now is a member of the North Street 
Church. She is quite generally known in the central 
and southern parts of the county. 



There are many others, no longer among us, of whom 
it would be pleasant to have some memorials preserved, 



34° LAKE COUNTY. 

but I find little material for making any records concern- 
ing them. Among these I name H. Nordyke, Solomon 
Russell, Jonathan Gray, Lyman Mann, Calvin Lilley, 
Adonijah Taylor, Horace Taylor, Horace Egerton, S. P. 
Stringham, John Foley, and Washington Dille around Ce- 
dar Lake. And there were, it may be remembered, more 
than four hundred others; but few of whose names, per- 
haps, can be snatched from oblivion. Some have written 
their names, as it were, in a bold hand across the county, 
and they will not soon fade out ; others only made an 
entry in some corner, in dim characters, and already 
these are illegible. The legibility of the name will not 
prove the worth of the man. 

There are also a number yet remaining among us, 
whom if I begin to name, I shall not know where to stop, 
who may justly feel that they are entitled to a record 
upon these pages. And no doubt they are ; but which 
one of them has furnished me any material for such a 
record .'' Perhaps when a revised edition is published the 
material will be readily obtained. I have made records 
where I found material ; but do not claim to have made 
records concerning all who were meritorious. 

I claim, however, for all who endured the privations, 
hardships, and exposures, which were the lot of those 
planting our social and civil institutions upon this then 
virgin soil, and who murmured not nor repined, a part of 
that meed of praise recognized as due to the founders of 
States. Some of them were encouraged, I trust, by what 
President Elliott says animated the founders of Harvard 
University, " The beautiful hope of doing good." He 
whose soul is glowing with this hope is nerved for no lit- 
tle endurance. 



SKETCHES OF EARLY SETTLERS. 341 

I hope that over the resting-place of none of them 
might truthfully be written the old, severe epitaph : 

" Here lies a man who did no good, 
And if he'd lived he never would : 
Where he's gone and how he fares. 
Nobody knows and nobody cares." 

There is authoritative teaching somewhere, that we 
should do good to all men as we have opportunity. 



Young men -of Lake have gone out into other counties 
and States, and have been succeeding well. Eli Church, 
from Western Prairie, member of the Cedar Lake Ly- 
ceum, went to the Pacific coast and accumulated, in the 
staging business, some forty thousand dollars. 

Edwin Church and brothers, sons of Darling Church, 
are now doing a business in one of the towns of Michigan,, 
amounting, it is said, to one hundred thousand dollars a 
year. 

Darius G. Farwell has been carrying on a drug store 
in Brooklyn, New York. Dr. E. J. Farwell is now practic- 
ing medicine in Chicago, and also carrying on a drug 
store. 

E, B. Warriner is engaged in one of the large furniture 
stores of Kankakee City. 

William Hill is engaged in large farming operations 
near the Pacific coast. 

Ross Bryant went, years ago, to Valparaiso, made 
money, and has lately opened a commission house in 
Chicago. 



342 T.AKF. COUNTY. 

There are now growing up in the county a number of 
promising boys, whose strong arms and active minds will 
be needed ere long in life's duties and conflicts. For 
what posts of duty, or for what walks in life, they are 
fitting, no human foresight can tell. We have no richer 
treasures than our truly obedient, polite, modest, truth- 
ful, and therefore noble boys. May they not share in 
that experience which N. P. Willis has vividly portrayed 
in his poem on "Ambition," and find they have gained 
at last 

"y^// things but love — when love'vs, all we want." 

And there are also in our homes many fair and lovely 
girls, as frail perhaps as fair, — "rose-like in beauty," — 
who, if properly nurtured and trained, may yet reach a 
vigorous, glorious womanhood. And they too will be 
needed. Earth has many paths for them to tread. As 
teachers, or physicians, or missionaries, or writers, or ar- 
tists, open pathways are before them. They are our 
jewels, and they need to be carefully polished and faith- 
fully guarded. 

" There is light in the cabin of Long Bow, for the Red 
Fawn is there." Said of Indian father and Indian 
maiden. These make much of the light in our homes 
now, and all too soon will they try for themselves life's 
realities. A generous culture for body and mind is what 
they need to fit them for toil ; for earth's daughters should 
toil as well as earth's sons. They should toil, but not 
drudge ; should be cherished and loved, not petted and 
spoiled. As the daughters now are trained so will the 
future mothers be. Well will it be if these learn what 



SKETCHES OF EARLY SETTLERS. 343 

Monod has said of woman, " Her vocation by birth is a 
vocation of charity." 



PRINCIPAL OFFICERS OF LAKE COUNTY. 

I have made these lists from a comparison of different 
county records, correcting from other sources where they 
were incomplete. 

SHERIFFS. 

Henry Wells, appointed by the Governor March 8, 
1837 ; Luman A. Fowler, 1837 ; J. V. Johns, 1839 ; Rollin 
T. Tozier, 1841 ; Henry Wells, 1843; Henry Wells, 1845 ; 
Luman A. Fowler, 1847 ; Luman A. Fowler, 1849 ; Janna 
S. Holton, 185 1 ; S. B. Strait, 1853 ; Job D. Bonnell, 1855 ; 
Jesse E. Pierce, 1857 ; L. A. Fowler, 1859 ; L. A. Fowler. 
1861 ; Andrew Krimbill, 1863 ; Andrew Krimbill, 1865 ; H. 
G. Bliss, 1867; H. G. Bliss, 1870; John Donche, 1S72. 

COUNTY COMMISSIONERS. 

A. L. Ball, S. p. Stringham, and Thomas Wiles, first 
board, elected 1837. In January, 1838, H. D. Palmer, 
appointed by the Circuit Court, took the place of A. L. 
Ball, who had resigned to run for representative. In 
May, Benaiah Barney, appointed by the Associate Judges, 
took the place of H. D. Palmer, appointed Associate 
Judge; Derastus Torrey, 1838; Henry Wells, 1839; W. 
Rockwell, 1840. (Some uncertainty here, as members 
of the first board were probably reelected, and that fact 
I do not find recorded). W. N. Sykes, 1843. (Again 
uncertainty). S. T. Greene, 1846 ; S. Parrish, 1847 ; Au- 
gustine Humphrey, 1847 ; Robert Wilkinson, 1848. (Some 
omission here). A. D. Foster, 1854; A. Humphrey, 
1856; G. W. Lawrence, 1857; John Underwood, 1858; 



344 LAKE COUNTY. 

Adam Schmal, 1857 ; G. L. Foster, 1861 ; Daniel F. Saw- 
yer, 1 86 1 ; A. Schmal, 1862 ; Aaron Konkright, 1862 ; G. L. 
Foster, 1863; A. Konkright, 1864; Wm. Brown, 1866; 
Alvin Green, 1867 ; H. C. Beckman, 1S67; K. M. Burn- 
ham, 1S70; J. Burge, 1870. 

PROBATE JUDGES. 

Robert Wilkinson, elected in 1837 ; Hervey Ball, 1844; 
David Turner, 1849. Office abolished in 1851. 

CLERKS. 

Solon Robinson, 1837-43 ; Joseph P. Smith, i843-'47 ; 
D. K. Pettibone, i847-'59 ; Z. F. Summers, i859-'67 ; W. 
W. Cheshire, 1S67 . 

RECORDERS. 

W. A. W. Holton, 1837; J. p. Smith, August 1838. 
The office was probably held by him until he was elected 
Clerk, and then the two offices were united in one per- 
son till 1845. Major Allman, i845-'56; Amos Allman, 
i856-'64; Sanford D. Clark, i864-'72. 

TREASURERS. 

J. W. Holton, 1837; Milo Robinson, 1838, (died in 
1839), and who succeeded is uncertain. As near as can 
be ascertained, the next Treasurer was A. McDonald, 
probably from 1840 to 1845 ; the fourth was W. C. Far- 
rington, 1845 to 1848. Then followed H. Wells, 1848 to 
1855 ; J. S. Holton, 1855 to 1859; E. M. Cramer, 1859 to 
1863; John Knost, 1863 to 1867 ; Adam Schmal, 1867 to 
1871 ; John Brown, 1871 to . 

ASSOCIATE JUDGES. 

Of these there have been but few, as the term of office 
was seven years and the office itself ceased in 1S51. The 



SKETCHES OF EARLY SETTLERS. 345 

following by appointment or election held this office in 
the county : 

W. B. Crooks, W. Clark, H. D. Palmer, Samuel Tur- 
ner, A. F. Brown, W. Rockwell, and Michael Pearce. A. 
F. Brown was elected in October, 1849, but died before 
entering upon the duties of the office. W. Rockwell 
and M. Pearce were elected shortly before the office was 
abolished. 

AUDITORS. 

The duties of Auditor were at first divided between 
School Commissioner, — H. S. Pelton being elected to 
this office in 1837, and giving ^10,000 bonds, while at the 
same time the bonds of the Sheriff were $5,000, and of 
the Treasurer only $2,000, — and the County Clerk, who 
also acted as Recorder. 

The first who seems to have occupied this as a distinct 
office was Joseph Jackson, elected in 1847 or 1848, He 
seems to have held the office until 1852. The second 
was D. Crumbacker, from 1852 to 1861. The third was 
James H. Luther, 1861 to 1869. The fourth was John 
Knost, 1869 to 1873. Auditor elect this fall, who will be 
the fifth, is H. G. Bliss. 

COUNTY SURVEYOR. 

W. N. Sykes was appointed by the Commissioners in 
1837. He did not serve. Chancellor Graves was next 
appointed in May 1838. He also never accepted the 
office, and died in August. No other appointment ap- 
pears on the Officer's Record Book in the clerk's office, 
till 1852. The duties of the office, however, were 
discharged, during many of those years, by Hervey 
Ball; the field notes came first into his hands, and he 



34^ LAKE COUNTY. 

unquestionably held the office. In 1S52 W. N. Sykes 
was again appointed. He died in 1853. Then suc- 
ceeded, John Wheeler, 1 85 3 to 1856 ; Matthias Schmit, 
1856 to 1858 ; John Fisher, 1858 to 1866 ; Walter de Cour- 
cey, 1866 to 1868; A. Vander Naillen, 1868 to 1870: 
John Wheeler, 1870 to . 

REPRESENTATIVES. 

The counties of Lake and Porter formed one repre- 
sentative district until 1850. 

At the first election in 1837, J. Hammel, of Porter 
County, was elected by the two counties representative. 
Lewis Warriner, of Cedar Lake, was elected in 1839. 
Cline and S. Campbell, of Porter County, were also our 
representatives, the latter elected probably in 1842. 

Of the citizens of our own county, A. McDonald wa& 
the next representative, and continued to be reelected, 
with one interval of rest, until 1855. This interval was 
filled by Lewis Warriner, who was elected representative 
in 1848. 

The following is the order of the succeeding represen- 
tatives : D. Turner, 1855; A. McDonald, 1857; Elihu 
Griffin, 1859; Bartlett Woods, 1861 ; D. K. Pettibone, 
1863; Bartlett Woods, 1865; H. Wason, 1867; E C. 
Field, 1869; Martin Wood, 1871, and reelected in 1872 
for the session of 1873. 



Lake County has furnished as Senators, for our sena- 
torial district, D. Turner, elected in 1856 for four years, 
and R. C. Wedge, elected in 1870. 



Our county records have furnished no data for deter- 



SKETCHES OF EARLY SETTLERS. 347 

mining the individuals sent to the General Assembly. 
The above is believed to be accurate. A Porter County 
record proves that A. McDonald was candidate for the 
legislature in 1847, and it states that he had twice before 
that year represented the two counties. Whether elected 
in the years 1843 and 1845, o^ i^ consecutive years, is 
uncertain. This however remains as the fact, the above 
records being accurate, that for eighteen years, from- 
1837 to 1855, two counties forming our district, Lake 
County sent but two men to the Indiana Legislature ; a 
fact not very flattering to our political leaders, but a fact, 
it may be, very creditable as showing our freedom from 
political intrigue and ambition. 



34^ LAKE COUNTY. 



CHAPTER XII. 

THE PRESENT. 1870-1872. 

The events of the three years of this present decade 
are yet fresh in the memory of us all, and a record need 
only be made of the leading events which we wish to 
preserve for the interest of others. 

Improvements have been going on quite rapidly, both 
in the towns and among the farming community. Those 
in the villages have been already noticed. 

The two following Castalian records, for the month of 
February, 1870, will preserve the remembrance of a 
beautiful phenomenon and of one business or commer- 
cial operation : 

"On Saturday afternoon, February 5th, a remarkable 
natural phenomenon was witnessed in the south part of 
the county. It was that appearance known as sun-dogs, 
a term which Webster thus defines : 'A luminous spot 
occasionally seen a few degrees from the sun, supposed 
to be formed by the intersection of two or more halos, 
or in a manner similar to that of halos.' Halo he defines 
thus : 'A luminous circle, usually prismatically colored, 
round the sun or moon, and supposed to be caused by 
the refraction of light through crystals of ice . in the 
atmosphere.' The appearance of February 5th, was 
remarkable for its brilliancy, its appearance when the sun 



THE PRESENT T870-1872. 349 

was SO far from the horizon, and appearing on an after- 
noon so warm and pleasant. At four o'clock it was first 
seen by our observer, but it had been noticed by some 
on the marsh long before. At four, bright appearances, 
almost equal to suns, were seen on each side, several de- 
grees distant from the real sun, which was then also very 
bright. These were prismatically colored. From each 
a well defined curve extended upward, meeting over the 
sun, where a third, less brilliant but singular glow of light, 
and color, and curve, appeared. A line extended from 
each also, downward, nearly to the horizon, forming an 
almost entire circle round the sun, some fifty or sixty 
degrees in width, with three bright appearances in the 
line of the curve. A small bank of cloud lay, apparently, 
under the sun; but who would suppose that on that day 
it could have contained crystals of ice ? This bank 
seemed to dissolve away before sunset, and the sun-dogs 
disappeared. No storm, no cold, in this region, followed. 
Different observers have remarked that they never saw 
such an appearance on so warm a day, nor ever saw such 
brilliant sun-dogs." 



" The White Water Ice Company, Cincinnati, have 

been doing quite a business at Crown Point this month. 

At this writing their men are busily engaged taking the 

ice from Fancher's Lake, loading cars, and building ice 

stacks. Some eighty men are employed daily, and thirty 

teams. These may be seen on East Street and Main 

Street every hour, wending their way from the Lake to 

the depot. Some are building, in the meantime, a ' stack ' 

at the Lake, and others erecting one near the depot. 
26 



35© LAKE COUNTY. 

" These stacks are one hundred feet in length and 
sixty in width, estimated to contain, each, when com- 
pleted, twenty-five hundred tons. The ice is cut in 
blocks of the same size, by means of ice plows and saws, 
twenty of which blocks make a load, weighing more than 
a ton. If the weather continues favorable for the busi- 
ness, these stacks will probably remain till summer, and 
then our crystal water, in its solid form, will go south- 
ward, for cooling purposes, to be used by the inhabitants 
of far-off cities, Avho know nothing of the lake in the 
woods from whence it came. This business, picturesque 
and cool as it looks, is a part of the commerce of civiliza- 
tion, a part of the great work of exchange. It puts 
money into Crown Point, and takes what was and will be 
water away. Six acres of ice, in blocks twenty-two 
inches square, will make for the markets of the South, 
how many tons .'' A visit to the lake, while the cutting 
and packing are going on, is interesting. The ice is first 
carefully laid off into squares by an instrument called a 
marker. Seams are next cut several inches in depth 
along the marked lines in one direction by an ice plow. 
Hand saws are then used to cut across these seams at 
proper distances, and another tool is employed to complete 
the breaking in the plowed seam. These strips, twenty- 
two inches in width, and some eight feet in length, are 
floated in, by means of spikes, to the foot of a slide. One 
man then attaches a grapnel to the outer end of the floating 
ice slab, and it is drawn by horse power up the slide. As it 
leaves the water another man with a fitting tool separates 
it into squares along the marked, unplowed seams. These 
cakes are then delivered on a platform for loading, and 



THE present' 1870-1872. 351 

at the stack are taken up a number of feet, from whence 
they slide rapidly down to the ice floor. From twelve to 
sixteen squares make this slide at once, and it is a lively 
sight. A number of men are there ready, with appro- 
priate tools, to pack the cakes. Two of these slides are 
used at the stack now being built at the lake. From 
seeing a slide of a few feet, one might imagine a little, 
yet very faintly, how that slide worked constructed once 
among the Alps, which was several miles in length. The 
rapidity of motion there must have been fearful. This 
is simply pretty. The plows used here are worth one 
hundred dollars a piece ; the markers some eighty dol- 
lars. The company must pay out at least one thousand 
dollars a week. A nice thing for Crown Point in these 
close times." 



The great excitement of the year 187 1 was the action 
of the Kankakee Valley Draining Company. A bill 
passed the State Legislature in the winter of 1869 and 
1870, known as the Kankakee Drainage Law. A com- 
pany was formed under this law, consisting of George W. 
Cass, of Pittsburgh ; George N. McConnell, of Indiana ; 
W. D. Wright, of Cincinnati; and eight other persons, 
who proceeded to issue some $2,000,000 in bonds, run- 
ning twenty years, and to make assessments upon lands 
amounting in all to more than four millions of dollars. 
In this county it was claimed that 61,438 acres would be 
affected by the ditches which the company proposed to 
dig, and benefit assessments were laid on these lands to 
the amount of $597,794. When the map of their pro- 
posed work and amount of assessments were filed in the 



352 LAKE COUNTY. 

recorder's ofifice a strong spirit of opposition to the 
movement was manifested in this and the adjoining 
counties. There were grave objections to the bill itself, 
to the provisions of the law, and serious doubts as to 
any real good resulting from such outlays of money as 
that company might make. I quote from a publication 
in 1 87 1 the following : 

" This company cannot drain the Kankakee without 
destroying a great natural dam of stone, some sixteen 
miles in extent, at Momence, Illinois, eight miles from 
the Indiana line, and as it is a valuable water-power, 
whose proprietors have a perpetual charter from the 
State of Illinois, and a paid-up capital of $1,250,000, it 
is not likely that the waters of the Kankakee will be 
reduced one inch by this company. The whole thing is 
a stupendous fraud upon the public *****" 

Meetings of the citizens were held at different places ; 
a strong, wide current of popular sentiment set full 
against the operations of the Kankakee Valley Draining 
Company; and the probability seems to be that the ben- 
efit assessment will never be collected. 

Some more large ditches, judiciously cut, might be a 
benefit to the dry marsh, but this is gradually becoming 
sufficiently dry not only for pasturage and grass but for 
cultivation. 

The Kankakee region in our bounds may well be called 
wild, strange, and magnificent. A river is its southern 
limit, a singular, lonely river, yet a river abounding with 
wild life. Between the river and the prairie are about 
seventy-five square miles of wet and dry marsh and of 
wooded islands. Beginning on the east these islands are 



THE PRESENT 1870-1872. 353 

named thus : Little Beech Ridge, Walnut Knob, Honey- 
Locust, Big Beech Ridge, Warner's Island, Fuller's 
Island, Red Oak Island, Brovvnell's Island, and White 
Oak Island. These are in Township 32, Range 7, and 
Township 32, Range 8. The last named grove or island 
is one of the largest in the region, extending for some 
three miles, from Section 30 in Range 8, eastward. In 
Township 32, Range 9, beginning on the west side, these 
islands of timber are thus named : Sugar Grove on Sec- 
tions 29 and 30 ; Ash Swamp north of Sugar, in 20 ; River 
Ridge from ^;^ to ^6 ; Stave Shanty, north of River Ridge 
on 34 and 35. In this are two dwellings and several In- 
dian mounds. Also, Wheeler's Island on the east side of 
26, extending into Section 25, in which is one dwelling 
house; South Island, on 24, containing two dwelling 
houses; Bolivar Island, Long Willow or Crab Apple 
Grove, and School Grove Island. 

These ridges and islands are all sandy. The timber 
is white and black oak, ash, cotton-wood, soft maple, 
sycamore, and swamp burr oak. The last is said to be 
the best timber in the region for fencing purposes. Some 
of these varieties, especially the ash, will grow in the 
water, and thus they make a regular swamp. Getting 
this timber out in the winter is called "swamping." 

On the western side of the county G. W. Cass and W. 
F. Singleton hold a large tract of this marsh land. A 
turnpike road has been constructed near the river, ex- 
tending eastward for several miles, and thus opening the 
way for additional settlements on the islands and the 
sandy ridges. A saw mill still further east, nearly south 
of Orchard Grove has been put in successful operation. 



354 LAKE COUNTY, 

CUMBERLAND LODGE. 

To this year, of 1S72, may be accredited the beginning 
of Cumberland Lodge Farm, on School Grove Island, 
in the Kankakee Region. 

The first settler on this island was John Hunter, by 
occupation a hunter and trapper. He spent a number 
of years along the Kankakee, following his favorite occu- 
pation, and camping on different islands. After moving 
from island to island for ten years he bought six acres on 
School Grove Island, and made that his headquarters. 

Heath and Milligan, of Chicago, afterward bought 
land on the island. They, with eight other Chicago gen- 
tlemen, built in the grove in the fall of 1869, and estab- 
lished a hunter's home, which was called Camp Milligan. 
The house is evidently constructed for hunters' head- 
quarters. It is kept by G. M. Shaver and family. Hunt- 
ing parties come from Chicago and other cities, spend a 
few days, register their success, and enjoy the exercise. 
No game is allowed to be sold. From September to No- 
vember are the months for hunting, or more properly for 
fowling. The game is mostly ducks, geese, and brants. 
Some of the entries in the Hunters' Record Book kept 
at Camp Milligan, may be of interest. Eight gentlemen, 
in a few days, shot sixty-six snipes and five hundred and 
thirteen ducks. Another says, four gentlemen shot fifty 
snipes and five hundred and fifteen ducks. " September 
nth, Sunday, no shooting." Another entry mentions 
shooting from September ist to 17th," except Sundays." 
G. M. Shaver alone killed four years ago eleven hundred 
ducks, besides other water fowls. 

In one of these hunting parties, that visited the island 



THE PRESENT 1870-1S72. 355 

in iSyijWere two enterprising English gentlemen, Wil- 
liam Parker and Captain Blake, who were on a hunting 
tour in the West, and who were so much pleased with 
the location, that having made since then a trip to Europe, 
they have this year returned and have invested quite a 
sum of money in lands on the island and in the adjoining 
marsh, and in buildings, and in stock. They have 
erected a dwelling house, barns, and kennels ; have im- 
ported from England some sixteen of the choicest blooded 
dogs known to sportsmen ; also some choice Alderney 
cows, and horses ; and have imported or purchased other 
choice stock. They have a black bear and some foxes. 
Both of these gentlemen are excellent sportsmen, and, in 
the words of Captain Blake, they "expect to combine 
business with pleasure." 

Camp Milligan still remains and is visited as usual. 

The improvements near by, made by these English 
gentlemen, bear the name of Cumberland Lodge, and 
bid fair to be, in the importation and improvement of 
stock, very beneficial to the farming interests of Lake. 
The results may show that this new style of farming and 
this commencement of importation, from the island of 
Great Britain direct to a little island in the Kankakee 
Region, were among the important events in our county 
for the present year. 

These gentlemen seem to be abundantly supplied with 
the means needful for accomplishing large enterprises. 

The great excitement of 1872 has been 



356 LAKE COUNTY. 

" THE BURGLAR." 
THE EXPLOSION, THE PURSUIT, THE ARREST, AND THE TRIAL. 

THE EXPLOSION. 

On Sunday morning of June 9th, a crowd assembled 
in front of the Treasurer's Office, in Crown Point, amid 
very unusual circumstances. Some $46,000 were known 
to have been in the safe within the vault the night before, 
together with a tin box of supposed valuables of unknown 
value deposited the day before by a stranger; and now, 
as the anxious citizens gathered round, they saw a broken 
wall, ruined vaults, an open safe, and abundant evidences 
of a fearful explosion. They learned that a stranger, of 
singular appearance and marked individualities, who en- 
tered the town the Friday before and had been observed 
by many of the citizens during Friday and Saturday, had 
deposited with the County Treasurer for safe keeping a 
box represented to contain valuables. This box, made 
of tin, some eight inches in length and five in width, was 
deposited on Friday and taken out on Saturday morning. 
It was again deposited on Saturday afternoon, to be called 
for on Monday morning. The treasurer had no suspic- 
ion, and retired at evening, in entire confidence, to his 
home. The stranger also retired, pretended to take the 
evening train, but was seen lurking around town at a late 
hour Saturday night. It was also ascertained that about 
one o'clock the tall, singular looking stranger, commenced 
work upon the outer door of the office and bored above 
and below the lock fourteen holes through the door. 
Soon an explosion was heard by the night watchman and 
three other citizens who were near the Rockwell House 
at that hour, and these hastened to the office from whence 



THE PRESENT 1870-1872. 357 

the sound proceeded. The stranger fled at their approach, 
the treasurer was aroused, the ruined vault was exam- 
ined, the money was found within the building, and the 
anxiety of those most deeply interested was relieved. 
The little box which came so near placing ^46,000 in the 
hands of an artful, designing man, was found to have 
contained a strip of tin, a gun lock, a watch, a percussion 
cap, and, it is supposed, some gunpowder and nitro-gly- 
cerine. The whole was ingeniously arranged to produce 
an explosion at an hour indicated by the watch, and 
caused by the motion of the watch. But for the wake- 
fulness of a few citizens the money and the stranger 
would have departed to unknown regions in that eventful 
night of June 8th. 

THE PURSUIT. 

The baffled, inchoate burglar, amid the exchange of 
pistol shots, eluded the grasp of his discoverers, made 
good his retreat to the woods, and, doubtless in a sul- 
len, disappointed, vexed mood, having missed a prize 
almost within his reach, retired southward toward the 
Kankakee wilds. 

The County Commissioners met on Tuesday, June nth, 
ordered repairs, offered a reward of ^1,000 for the appre- 
hension of the fugitive, and James H. Ball, J. W. Hughes, 
and J. Kain, started in pursuit. It was found that the 
tall and disguised stranger had been seen about sunrise 
north of Lowell, and soon after sunrise had passed 
through the Lowell Cemetery, and had been hailed near 
noon above Oak Grove, had passed southward through 
the Kankakee Marsh, and at four o'clock P. M. was at 
Beaver Ditch, where he sold a watch and continued 
southward. At dark he had stopped near Beaver Lake 



358 LAKE COUNTY. 

and spent the night at the house of Newton Nichols. 
The next day he was seen bj'^ herdsmen passing south- 
ward along the east side of Beaver Lake, and was last 
seen a mile and a half south of Morocco. These facts 
the pursuing party ascertained ; but after a diligent search 
through that region and from Rensselaer to Kentland, 
learning from the citizens of Morocco " that burglars, 
horse thieves, and desperadoes, are often tracked to that 
vicinity, where they seem to disappear," they returned 
without a prisoner to Crown Point. 

THE ARREST. 

Weeks passed, and months passed, and no discoveries 
were made tending to secure the person of the fugitive. 
But in September a message came to Crown Point from 
Warsaw, Indiana ; it was speedily answered ; and on 
Tuesday, September 24th, the Sheriff of Lake, H. G. 
Bliss, accompanied by John Kain, E. C. Field, Esq., and 
the Treasurer, John Brown, arrested a supposed crimi- 
nal in Warsaw, and on the evening of the same day 
he was securely lodged in the county jail at Crown Point, 
amid considerable excitement among the citizens. The 
question now was whether this tall and singular looking 
prisoner was the tall stranger seen on our streets last 
June. The public were deeply interested in the solution 
of the question, and strong and conflicting opinions were 
at once expressed by various citizens. 

THE TRIAL. 

After the usual law preliminaries and some delays, the 
second day of October was set for the examination of 
the prisoner before Justice Fry. The morning came, and 
the Court House was thronged as it had never been be- 



THE PRESENT I<S70-l872. 359 

fore at a justice's examination or trial. The ladies of 
Crown Point crowded the galleries as they had never 
done at any court during our existence as a county, while 
from day to day the trial progressed ; manifesting a 
strange interest which had never been exhibited till now 
for or against any prisoner. And yet not so strange, for 
a remarkable prisoner appeared before them. He was 
tall, strongly built, swarthy and pale, just recovering from 
sickness, marked in his individualities, a man whom one 
would expect to recognize among ten thousand. He was 
called Col. Battles, was said to have been an officer 
in the Southern Rebel Army, and was a man of acknowl- 
edged immoral character. He was claimed to be the 
same stranger who so nearly succeeded in carrying away 
from our county $46,000, and several of the ladies were 
to appear among the witnesses in behalf of the State and 
for the defense. The question under examination was, 
the identity of this tall, dark looking prisoner, and that 
tall, disguised stranger who was held responsible to civil 
law for an attempted but unsuccessful burglary. The 
counsel for the State were E. C. Field and T. J. Wood ; 
for the prisoner were Barnard and Barnard, T. S. Fan- 
cher, and Griffin and Youche. The examination contin- 
ued with increasing interest during Wednesday, Thursday, 
and Friday ; excellent order prevailing in the court room ; 
many citizens giving strong testimony for and against the 
prisoner ; and on Friday evening and Saturday long and 
able speeches were made by the attorneys. The progress 
of the trial, as numerous witnesses were examined who 
had seen the stranger and now saw the prisoner, brought 
distinctly to notice the great difference which exists in 



360 LAKE COUNTY. 

the observing power of different individuals. Some were 
confident that the stranger and the prisoner were one, 
others as confident that they were two; and some were 
quite uncertain. After hearing patiently the evidence 
and the arguments the justice decided that the prisoner 
should be held for trial at the Circuit Court, placing his 
recognizance at ^2,000. 

The counsel for the prisoner made out, a few weeks 
afterwards, a writ of habeas corpus, and another examina- 
tion was held before Judge Gillett, of the Common Pleas 
Court. This resulted in the release of Col. Battles, and 
the great burglar excitement was ended. The thousand 
dollar reward remained in the treasury of the county. 

Hoping to perform the part of an impartial historian, 
I add; that, while, it may be, no jury would have con- 
victed the prisoner under the strongly conflicting testi- 
mony, the conviction is strong on many minds that Jus- 
tice Fry rendered a perfectly correct decision ; and that 
there are those, who heard the first examination, and who 
noticed particularly the different manners in which 
the two classes of witnesses proposed to identify, in 
whose minds no reasonable doubt remains that Col. Bat- 
tles was in reality the inchoate burglar. 

In closing this chapter a few reflections and remarks 
are added. 

For the first fifteen years of our history the only com- 
munication with the Chicago market was by the regular 
team route, the three and four days' wagon trip. For 
the next fifteen years much business was done, by means 
of railroad transportation, at Lake and Hobart, at Dyer 
and Ross. Thus thirty years passed. What complete 



THE PRESENT 187O-1872. 361 

facilities the third fifteen years will furnish cannot now 
be told ; but the Great Eastern Road, the Danville Road 
the road along the Kankakee marsh, and the projected 
Continental, are almost bringing a market to every man's 
door. Fifty years will doubtless show the possession of 
the facilities of an old country. The children will almost 
forget the ways in which their fathers went to market. 
Hardships are soon forgotten by those who enjoy their 
benefits. 

The following, as one illustration out of many, may 
seem, years hence, almost incredible : 

George Parkinson, of South East Grove, in the winter 
of 1839 and 1840, sold pork at Michigan City for one 
dollar and fifty cents a hundred weight, hauling it some 
forty miles. He sent a load of grain. The proceeds 
were returned, the man who did the hauling received his 
pay, and about fifty cents were left. Those now enjoying 
and yet to enjoy the benefits purchased by persistent 
effort, may do well to remember some of their fathers' 
early struggles. 



Comparatively few families preserve records, either of 
their ancestry or of the more important events in their 
own history. Many families have not preserved the date 
of their settlement in Lake. As examples of family dates 
preserved from one generation to another, I place on re- 
cord here the following : 

I. THE HOLTON FAMILY. 

Wm. Holton came over from England in the ship Fran- 
cis in 1634; he died 1691 ; John Holton died 1712; Wil- 
liam Holton died 1757 ; John Holton died 1797 ; Joel 



362 LAKE COUNTY. 

Holton born 1738; Alexander Holton born 1779'; J. W. 
Holton born 1807. And this makes one line from the 
ship Francis, fourteen years after the landing of the May 
Flower, to an old settler of Lake County, now a resident 
on a Deep River farm. 

II. THE DINWIDDIE FAMILY. 

In this family line David has been a favorite name. 
Records have been burnt or lost containing the dates of 
David Dinwiddie, ist ; David Dinwiddie, 2d ; David Din- 
widdie, 3d ; David Dinwiddie, 4th. Then follow David 
Dinwiddie, 5th, born 1724; David Dinwiddie, 6th, 1755; 
Thomas Dinwiddie, 1787 ; a brother of Thomas, David 
Dinwiddie, 7th, 1792 ; J. W. Dinwiddie, 1813; a brother 
David Dinwiddie, 8th, 1816 ; Oscar Dinwiddie, 1845. 
This family name is known in United States history, one 
member of the family, in the time of Washington, having 
been Governor of Virginia. 

III. THE BALL FAMILY. 

Francis Ball came from England in 1640; Jonathan 
Ball, born 1645 ; Benjamin Ball, born 1689; Charles Ball, 
ist, born 1725 ; Charles Ball, 2d, born 1760; Hervey Ball, 
born 1794 ; T. H. Ball, born 1826 ; Herbert S. Ball, born 
1856. Thus six generations in this line come between 
the English ancestor of 1640 and a Lake County youth 
born at Cedar Lake. 

Another family in this county possess heirlooms which 
have been handed down from father to son, which are 
said to have been brought over in the May Flower. The 
records however are not in this county. This is the fam- 
ily of Ebenezer Saxton. 

Still another resident of the county, Augustine Hum- 



THE PRESENT 187O-1872. 363 

phrey, settting here in 1840. whose family have nearly all 
passed away, has records in the possession of his brother 
which are said to give a connected line back to the Nor- 
man Conquest or the Battle of Hastings, 1066. 

The value of such records as the above may seem 
slight to some, — and they are placed here simply as sam- 
ples of what family records mean — yet families possess- 
ing such would not willingly part with them, and where 
slight records are handed down from generation to gen- 
eration, and especially where diaries are kept of import- 
ant or interesting events, it is easy for an annalist to find 
material for his work. Of such choice material, carefully 
collected, the foundation for standard histories is made. 

For want of well-kept records there are disagreeing 
dates even in United States history. Much more is this 
the case as we go back toward the dark shadows of a re- 
mote antiquity. 



Thirty-eight years have now passed away since the 
first settlement in this region. Only twelve more years, 
or eight years after the centennial celebration of our na- 
tional existence, will bring us to the semi-centennial cele- 
bration of the settlement of our county. If good records 
are kept by those now acting, a fair fifty years' view may 
then be taken of the growth of Lake : and then I am 
sure there v^^ill be some appreciation of the work accom- 
plished by this unpretending volume, in treasuring up 
many facts that would otherwise have been buried in ob- 
livion. While not done as it would have been done had 
more time and more means been at my disposal, I cheer- 
fully and hopefully commend it to the consideration of 



364 LAKE COUNTY. 

my fellow citizens. And if in the land of the living 
when the rich autumn comes of the year 1884, although 
perchance a distant wanderer, I shall hope to find a place 
then in the great gathering of the sons and daughters of 
Lake. And with the loved ones among them I shall hope 
at last to dwell, in the great, the fadeless, the beautiful 

HOME. 



MONROE'S 
SERIES OF SCHOOL EEACERS. 



The Publishers have the pleasure of announcing that they have recently com- 
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In the introduction to the Fifth Reader are the most essential portions of the 
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in the public schools of Boston." 



PRICES OF MONROE'S READERS. 



First Reader.. 
Second Reader 
Third Reader . 
Fourth Reader 
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Sixth Reader.. 



Retail. 


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Agent for Introduction. 

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MONROE'S VOCAL GYMNASTICS. 



A new work on Physical and Vocal Training or the use of Schools and for 
Private Instruction. No teacher, pupil, or public spca'-cer, can afford to be without 
this little manual. Retail price, $i.oo. 



/^'LlnCAMjiiWf Esiabiishcd iZ^(>. Incor/oraied ^i^Z. 

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ELIHU GRIFFIN. J. W. YOUCHE. 

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Will practice in all the courts, and attend to any kind of legal business. Counsel 
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MARTIN WOOD. 



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V/OOD & WOOD, 

Attornsys and Counsellors at Law, 

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OFFICE TWO DOORS NORTH OF PRINTING OFFICE. 

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CROWN POINT, Ind. 



CROWIsr POINT, Ind., 



DEALER IN 



DYE STUFFS, PERFUMERY AND TOILET SOAPS, COMBS, 

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SCHOOL BOOKS, PAPER, PENS, PENCILS, ^c, 

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Geo. W. Waters, 

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Sponges, Brushes, Perfumery, Dye Woods and Dye 

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and other articles kept by druggists generally. 

PHYSICIANS' PRESCRIPTIONS CAREFULLY COMPOUNDED. 



AMOS ALLMAN, 

EealEsiateAientiConyeyancer 

CROWN POINT, LAKE COUNTY, INDIANA. 



Having an abstract of Lake County from the Recorder's Records, 
am prepared to furnish Abstracts on short notice. Also, attend to 
the payment of Taxes, etc. 

OFFICE IN THE TREASURER'S OFFICE. 



WILLIAM WOODS, 

PRODUCE 

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No. i6i E. KiNziE Street, Chicago. 



Choice Dairy Butter received daily. 



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JAMES H. BALL, 

CROWN POINT, INDIANA. 
HACK'S EXCHANGE, CROWN POINT, IND. 

This popular Hotel is still prepared to entertain the Travelling Public in the 
best manner. Accommodations First Class. A good Stable is attached. Free 
'Bus to and from all trains. 

MRS. A. HACK, Proprietress. 



A. D. PALMER, 

CEDAR LAKE, LAKE COUNTY, INDIANA, 

DEALHR IN 

DRY GOODS, GROCERIES, 

Hardware, Queensware, Boots and Shoes, Hats and Caps, 

READY-MADE CLOTHING, 

DRUGS AND MEDICINES, PAINTS AND OILS, SCHOOL BOOKS, 
STATIONERY, &c. 

Country Produce taken in exchange for goods. 

H. C. BECKMANN, 



DEALER IN 



^Ty Groods, GrTOcertes, 

CROCKERY, PAINTS, OILS, ETC, 

BRUNS\SriCK. Lake County, Indiana. 

JOHN M. FOSTER, 

(Successor to SCOTT & FOSTER,) 

DEALER IN 

AQEICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS, 

HEAVY HARDWARE, COAL AND LIME, 
CROWN POINT, INDIANA. 

Physician & Surgeon, 

CRO WN POINT, Ind. 



Office on the West side of the public square. 



A\TTORNEY AT LAW, 

CROWN POINT, Ind. 

OFFICE OVER SAUERMAN'S HARNESS SHOP. 

7. A. WOOD, M. D., 

Physician & Surgeon, 

OFFICE AT HIS RESIDENCE, ONE MILE EAST OF LOWELL, 
LAKE COUNTY", Ind. 

T. S. Fancher, 
Attorney and Counssllor at Law^ 

Collections a specialty. CROWN POINT, Ind. 

SUMMERS & FOSTER, 

DEALERS IN GRAIN, 

CROWN POINT, Ind. 

LAKE COUNTY 

NORMAL SCHOOL, 

AT 

CROWN POINT, IND. 

For terms, inquire of T. H. BAIiL. 

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